As I'm sure you're aware OCaml's syntax is not widely liked, leading to a lot of attempts at resyntaxing (Revised, Pidgin, ReasonML amongst others) so attempting to copy it doesn't strike me as a good idea. SML is not widely used enough for me to have a sense of how much the syntax was liked.
I love Lisps, and, like Barry Schwartz, prefer it to others. However, I realize that this is a minority opinion and many programmers *hate* it. Probably also not a great idea if you're trying to make ATS popular, especially amongst low level programmers. Python syntax is well liked (and well hated :-) by a large number of programmers. The Nim language has a kind of Pythonesque syntax with static typing, and it also has powerful metaprogramming features. It's also used in low-level programming. It would be valuable to take a look at Nim and see what lessons can be learned there. C language syntax is the most widely used, with C++ and Rust being the competitors for ATS3. I happen to think D language got the template syntax (and templates) right-er and provide a better model for template meta-programming. A C like syntax is the safest bet IMO. Good luck, and please get ATS3 out there soon. On Sunday, September 16, 2018 at 8:58:55 AM UTC-7, gmhwxi wrote: > > > It is not too late :) > > For meta-programming support, LISP-like syntax is definitely > on my mind. > > At this point, I want to first finish designing and implementing > some ML-like (ML-inspired) syntax for ATS. I am getting there :) > > Once this ML-like syntax is done, it can readily serve as the basis for > a design of LISP-like syntax for ATS. > > Cheers! > > On Thursday, August 30, 2018 at 4:03:36 PM UTC-4, Barry Schwartz wrote: >> >> I know this comes too late and was doomed anyway, but my opinion is the >> best syntax is always Lisp. :) >> >> On Friday, February 9, 2018 at 12:15:22 PM UTC-6, gmhwxi wrote: >>> >>> For the moment, I just want to open a thread for ATS3. >>> >>> I decided to pick ATS/Xanadu for the full project name. I like the name >>> Xanadu >>> because it is poetic and brings a feel of exoticness. >>> >>> ATS3 is supposed to be compiled to ATS2. At least at the beginning. I >>> will try to >>> write more about what I have in mind regarding ATS3. >>> >>> I know that a lot of people have been complaining about the syntax of >>> ATS2. So >>> we can start the effort of designing some "nice" syntax for ATS3. Please >>> feel free >>> to post here if you would like share your opinions and ideas. >>> >>> I will be happy to take the lead but we definitely need to have some >>> form of community >>> effort on this project given its size and scope. >>> >>> Cheers! >>> >>> --Hongwei >>> >>> PS: I felt rushed every time up to now when implementing ATS. This time >>> I am hoping >>> to have the luxury of thinking about implementation a bit before >>> actually doing it :) >>> >>> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ats-lang-users" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ats-lang-users+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to ats-lang-users@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/ats-lang-users. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ats-lang-users/c10459fd-a8a1-4b68-94c2-06e3d4b61959%40googlegroups.com.
