@Stefan I'm *not *advocating for the ability of the user to be able to have variable names like Julia key words. Consider key words to be sacred during this thread. I'm old enough to remember playing with PL/1's ability to declare variables with the same name as keywords -- imagine a boolean variable named "if" and what the resulting code would look like. Yes, ridiculous and nearly impossible to understand and maintain. In the Monty Python world, I was being "silly".
Once a user has defined a variable, the compiler might be coaxed into recognizing differently cased versions of the variable used later in the code to be the same variable that was defined by the user earlier in the code. When I refer to a "defined variable", I mean anything that the user creates that can be referenced by name. I do appreciate the work that you've put into Julia and admire Julia's beauty and power. However, some of my teaching opportunities are with 'students' that probably aren't up to the same level of experience as those you normally encounter. A case-insensitivity option might help some of my students acclimate quicker and with less frustration. Mark On Wednesday, March 19, 2014 11:21:59 PM UTC-4, Stefan Karpinski wrote: > > Well, that's the problem – you'd have to rename a lot of things to avoid > conflicts with keywords and to avoid conflicts with other identifiers and > other things you renamed and with other things that just happened to > already have the name you wanted to rename something to, etc. It can't be > done automatically without mangling all your names horribly. > > > On Wed, Mar 19, 2014 at 9:37 PM, aikimark1955 . > <[email protected]<javascript:> > > wrote: > >> 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]<javascript:> >> > 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]<javascript:> >>> > 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 >>>>>> >>>>> >>> >> >
