On Oct 12, 2006, at 1:12 PM, Daniel Stenning wrote:
I really have to disagree on all counts. Firstly these operators
are not
ONLY C operators, all manner of modern languages use them.
Not so. REALbasic doesn't. :)
And do you really think
++mycounter
Is less readable than
Mycounter = mycounter + 1
Heavens to Betsy, yes! The latter is much more readable and makes far
more sense.
The former is MUCH clearer.
Probably only because you're an experienced C programmer. Not
everyone is. I'm not. And yes, I use REALbasic to make my living, so
I would consider myself to be a "professional" programmer. I started
with REALbasic, and I have no desire to see it morph into REAL-C just
so some other folks can save a few keystrokes.
Not only does it take less verbiage to read, but
it clearly indicates we are carrying out an increment type of
operation as
opposed to a more ambiguous arithmetic operation.
That's only clear because you know what it does in other languages.
"Mycounter=Mycounter+1" has an intuitive value that's clear for
anyone who's taken even the lowest levels of Algebra, while "+
+Mycounter" would mean nothing to most people. Not just programmers,
but most people. Remember that REALbasic's target audience is far
wider than just professional programmers.
++ is something that most people who exposed to programming these
days in
one flavour or another will have come across.
That doesn't make it good, just ubiquitous. There's a difference. ;)
Finally , on the "professional" issue - in order for RB to have
longevity
out there in the "fickle" world of languages, it really needs to be
able to
attract and KEEP professional programers as well as beginners.
I would think that any "professional" programmer would be able to
adjust to his or her current language's syntax. I sincerely doubt
that anyone has abandoned REALbasic simply because it doesn't have
the "++" operator. If anyone has, that person certainly would have
found another reason to complain and/or leave even if REALbasic did
have the "++" operator.
This discussion comes up every few months. As often as it's been
hashed out, I'm fairly certain that REAL Software has no intention of
modifying the language in this way (although I certainly can't claim
to speak for the company).
--
Brad Rhine
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://bradrhine.com
Tangelo: Web Publishing... With A Twist!
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