I'm not urging the Julia keywords be changed, just the variable and object names that the user creates.
On Wed, Mar 19, 2014 at 12:30 PM, Jacob Quinn <[email protected]>wrote: > Mark, > > If you spend more time with Julia, I think you'll find that case > sensitivity actually *helps* in learning the language. Most notably, > Julia follows the convention of using proper-cased identifiers for modules > and types, while using all lower-case for function/method identifiers. This > aids drastically in code readability and, IMO, *helps *someone feel more > comfortable with the language more quickly. While obviously > case-sensitivity can be abused, so far, I've found it to be a pattern the > community seems unified on and happy to conform with; to the satisfaction > of everyone! Great care has also been taken in method naming to make names > clear, concise, and tab-completion friendly. > > I hope you'll reconsider the importance of case sensitivity and trust that > after learning 2-3 naming rules, students can quickly and more efficiently > get comfortable with Julia. > > -Jacob > > > On Wed, Mar 19, 2014 at 12:10 PM, aikimark1955 <[email protected]>wrote: > >> @Kevin >> >> I apologize for the delayed response. I didn't know that anyone had >> replied until last night. (thanks, Jacques) >> >> When teaching a language, it is easier to teach a language that is case >> insensitive. It lets students concentrate on the language programming >> structures, data structures, keywords, and other features. The students >> can get to correct executions quicker. >> >> Scripting languages are not generally case sensitive. There are even >> compiled languages (Pascal/Delphi, VB, Fortran, etc.) that are not case >> sensitive. >> >> I realize that I'm coming into Julia after much work has been done on the >> compiler and that teaching is a low-priority metric. There might even be a >> work-around in the Julia Studio (or other) editor, where all declared >> variable instances in the code are replaced with the case of the definition. >> >> Mark >> >> >> On Monday, February 17, 2014 11:23:41 AM UTC-5, Kevin Squire wrote: >> >>> Pretty disruptive. >>> >>> I'm curious why you would want such a feature? Are there other >>> languages which have this? How would it make your job easier? >>> >>> I'm pretty sure this won't ever happen. To me this sounds like a rather >>> bad idea, but I'm curious about your reasoning. >>> >>> Cheers! >>> Kevin >>> >>> On Monday, February 17, 2014, aikimark1955 <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>>> As a software instructor, I would like an option to have the language >>>> parse in a case-insensitive manner. >>>> >>>> How disruptive would such a change be? >>>> >>>> Mark Hutchinson >>>> Durham, NC >>>> >>> >
