Re: RFC 109 (v1) Less line noise - let's get rid of @%

[Kai Henningsen]

[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Nathan Torkington)  wrote on 15.08.00 in 
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:

>  * you misunderstand the purpose of $ and @, which is to indicate
>    singular vs plural.

Yes. That's one of the things that's wrong with it - maybe the biggest of  
all.

It's one of the things that require constant attention to get right for  
me. It's *not* natural.

Yes, singular and plural per se are natural. But an array element *is not*  
singular to an array.

Look at that sentence. It contains two singulars: an array, and an array  
element. There's no plural in there.

Perl "plural" is a very different concept from natural language plural,  
and *that* is why it's bad.

$ vs. @ is not really about singular or plural. It's about context  
dependency.

And context dependency is bad for people.

There is a reason that no language after Algol68 used a context dependant  
grammar.

There is a reason that nearly all modern computer languages don't make  
expression evaluation dependant on expression context.

The reason is *not* that this is easier for computers. It is easier, sure,  
but not all that much.

But it is *a lot* easier for humans.

A rose is a rose is a rose. Human minds really don't like context  
dependancy.

MfG Kai