On 10.08.20 17:40, Derick Rethans wrote:
It missing an ending delimiter was my first reason for wanting to get
something better than @@. I don't particularly care much if it ends up
being @[], #[], <<>>, or other things such as @:( ).
If you have something to open, and close, there there is a distinct area
that forms the whole definition of a thing. That's why functions, and
classes have { and }, if and other control structures have ( .. ), etc.
Being able to define a whole "thing" easily with an open and closing set
of symbols, allows for better mental parsing. It also means that syntax
highlighting tools can map the opening part with the closing part. (VIM
for example, uses the % character to jump between opening and closing
symbol).
For me the difference would be that with attributes, you are not opening
and closing many possible statements, it can only be one (or more, with
grouping) class name(s), which then can have arguments, but those are
enclosed with (). In comparison, classes can have many possible
definitions inside of them (class variables, methods, constants, etc.),
so enclosing them clearly makes sense, as you need to know where it
ends. The same goes for if, for, while, etc.
So if you just have one class name as an attribute, enclosing it seems a
bit overkill, as there is already a definition of a class name and how
it starts and ends, which is why for me the mental parsing does not seem
easier - but what is easily parseable probably depends on many factors
and might be different for different people.
I would have found a syntax where the delimiters are optional preferable
- similar to "if", where you can leave off the {} for exactly one
instruction, but you have to add them if there is more than one line of
instructions. Or the group use syntax.
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