I have often wondered about this. In my own practice, I use Fraser Jackson's Note convention which I think works very well. The lack of syntax coloring is a minor issue. Also, Jqt supports add/delete Note from the keyboard with Ctrl+Shift+/ .
The problem with any convention like @@ is that it will fail if load is not used, so it really should be baked into the interpreter. Otherwise there are problems when distributing scripts. I quite like the simpler convention in kdb+, where an isolated / at the start of a line starts a multiline comment, and an isolated \ terminates it. However, this isn't much different from the Note ... ) convention in J. On Wed, May 9, 2018 at 6:46 AM, Ian Clark <[email protected]> wrote: > Cross-posted to programming forum at request of Chris Burke. > Ian Clark > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Ian Clark <[email protected]> > Date: Wed, May 9, 2018 at 10:35 AM > Subject: Convention to stop loading a script > To: [email protected] > > > Can I propose we agree to alter the stdlib verb: (load) to provide a way to > stop loading a given script? > > @@NB. stop loading at this line > > …certainly does that, but generates an unwelcome "syntax error". This can > interfere with calling processes. > > I propose @@@… (three or more) as the conventional end-of-script marker. A > line of @@@… offers a clear marker to draw attention to what's happening. > > There are a number of reasons why you might want to do this: > > ++ to partly-load a script for testing > > ++ to omit test code for operational use > > ++ to keep notes at the bottom of a script (as I do) > 0 :0 NB. a block of notes > or > Note 'a block of notes' > …has the disadvantage of turning off syntax coloring, also resuming > interpreting code as soon as it hits an isolated right parenthesis. > > Ian Clark > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
