p j <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > The idea is not limited to J in its applicability. To > be clear, I'm simply proposing using spaces as a way > to create implied parentheses. It would save a lot > of typing and typos in any language, and works equally > well when the default parsing order is left to right. > It doesn't change the underlying J-likeness of J. I > don't know that it is used in any programming system > yet.
IIRC fortress will also make similar use of whitespace for parsing in some contexts, but I haven't checked again (google fortress spec). FWIW I think it's a reasonable idea, but maybe a bit tricky to get right. One problem is that it doesn't scale well at all (distingusihing between more than ``a*b`` and ``a * b`` is down the road to madness, IMO; but then what do you do about assymetrical ws as in ``a* b`` -- outlaw it?). J might also not be the best language for such experiments (partly because, unlike most other languages, the ws needs of otherwise syntactically and semantically analogous dyads may differ, depending on whether the token contains alphabetic characters or not). Having said that, why don't you try to implement a preprocessor for J or another language of your choice, and see how well it works in practice? 'as ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
