Some time ago, Michal proposed that a line separator be added. I want to
rekindle that discussion. The proposal was that .. behave like a line break
when placed on a single line, such that e.g. {{ a=. y+y .. a }} 2 would do the
obvious thing. Short, distinctive, and to the point.
I also want to propose a line _joiner_, analogous to \ in shell or c: ...,
placed at the beginning or end of a line should join it with the previous or
next. Joining lines happens _after_ stripping comments, unlike the other
languages I cited; the goal is to enable large, multi-line definitions with
commentary for intermediate terms, without the need for pointless intermediate
definitions.
It might be objectionable to use such similar symbols for separators and
joiners. But maybe it's not such a big deal. Two more ideas:
1. Could use the _same_ symbol for both, with its sense depending on where
it's placed in a line.
2. Separator could be .:.; metaphor: a hill stops the interpreter in its
tracks.
I don't like 2 because the larger the separator is, the more annoying it is to
use. Joiner can afford to be large, since it only comes into play if the rest
of the line is sufficiently large.
Anyway--thoughts? Comments? Suggestions?
-E
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