Re: perl6storm #0050

2000-09-28 Thread John Porter
Buddha Buck wrote: > > While Perl -lets- every function be well prototyped, it doesn't -require- > every function to be well prototyped. Because of this, it might be well > nigh impossible to eliminate all ambiguity to the compiler. Well, right. Clearly, in those cases, you can expect to nee

Re: perl6storm #0050

2000-09-28 Thread Piers Cawley
John Porter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > Piers Cawley wrote: > > > > You know, I'm trying to see what's annoying about all those > > parentheses in the lisp function and what do you know, I can't see > > anything wrong. Okay, so it's not Perl syntax, but it's still clear > > what's going on. >

Re: perl6storm #0050

2000-09-27 Thread Buddha Buck
At 03:35 PM 9/27/00 -0400, John Porter wrote: >Piers Cawley wrote: > > > > You know, I'm trying to see what's annoying about all those > > parentheses in the lisp function and what do you know, I can't see > > anything wrong. Okay, so it's not Perl syntax, but it's still clear > > what's going on.

Re: perl6storm #0050

2000-09-27 Thread John Porter
Simon Cozens wrote: > > Perl is English-like. And sometimes in English parentheses *are* necessary to > increase both meaning and readability, as your own message proves. That's rather disingenuous, since perl does not use parens for the same purpose English does. Parens are necessary in a pro

Re: perl6storm #0050

2000-09-27 Thread Simon Cozens
On Wed, Sep 27, 2000 at 03:35:39PM -0400, John Porter wrote: > Yes, but it's hard to read. Lisp requires parens, because it > has no precedence rules. (Well, hardly any). It has (almost) > no other syntax. This is the situation we would like to avoid > in perl. By letting every operator have w

Re: perl6storm #0050

2000-09-27 Thread John Porter
Simon Cozens wrote: > Readability is a programmer feature, not a language feature. Right. Parens, and other devices for "readability", are there for the user to use, if she chooses. Perl is not about forcing a certain style. -- John Porter Aus des Weltalls ferne funken Radiosterne.

Re: perl6storm #0050

2000-09-27 Thread John Porter
Piers Cawley wrote: > > You know, I'm trying to see what's annoying about all those > parentheses in the lisp function and what do you know, I can't see > anything wrong. Okay, so it's not Perl syntax, but it's still clear > what's going on. Yes, but it's hard to read. Lisp requires parens, bec

Re: perl6storm #0050

2000-09-27 Thread Simon Cozens
On Wed, Sep 27, 2000 at 10:30:36AM -0500, David Grove wrote: > Although I have no interest in saying anything supportive of this idea, I think > it would be dreadfully funny if Python suddenly lost its primary point of > advocacy against the Perl language just because we allowed (not required)

RE: perl6storm #0050

2000-09-27 Thread David Grove
On Wednesday, September 27, 2000 10:21 AM, John Porter [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] wrote: > Philip Newton wrote: > > On 26 Sep 2000, Johan Vromans wrote: > > > > > > By the same reasoning, you can reduce the use of curlies by using > > > indentation to define block structure. > > > > What an idea! I

Re: perl6storm #0050

2000-09-27 Thread John Porter
Philip Newton wrote: > On 26 Sep 2000, Johan Vromans wrote: > > > > By the same reasoning, you can reduce the use of curlies by using > > indentation to define block structure. > > What an idea! I wonder why no language has tried this before. It's a question of what the language allows vs. what

Re: perl6storm #0050

2000-09-27 Thread Piers Cawley
Simon Cozens <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > Readability is a programmer feature, not a language feature. The most important optimization a programmer can make is to optimize for understanding. -- Piers

Re: perl6storm #0050

2000-09-27 Thread Simon Cozens
On Wed, Sep 27, 2000 at 09:52:57AM +0100, Piers Cawley wrote: > You know, I'm trying to see what's annoying about all those > parentheses in the lisp function and what do you know, I can't see > anything wrong. Okay, so it's not Perl syntax, but it's still clear > what's going on. I'd go further

Re: perl6storm #0050

2000-09-27 Thread iain truskett
* Philip Newton ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) [27 Sep 2000 19:54]: > On 26 Sep 2000, Johan Vromans wrote: [...] > > By the same reasoning, you can reduce the use of curlies by using > > indentation to define block structure. > What an idea! I wonder why no language has tried this before. I realise you're

Re: perl6storm #0050

2000-09-27 Thread Piers Cawley
Robert Mathews <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > Simon Cozens wrote: > > (defun Schwartzian (func list) > > (mapcar > >(lambda (x) (car x)) > >(sort > > (mapcar > > (lambda (x) (cons x (funcall func x))) > > list > > ) > > (lambda (x y) (< (cdr x) (cdr y))) > > )

Re: perl6storm #0050

2000-09-27 Thread Philip Newton
On 26 Sep 2000, Johan Vromans wrote: > Philip Newton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > > so fewer "cluttering" > > parentheses are needed to make things readable while still being correct. > > Since when do parentheses make things less readable? Each parenthesis is one "token". The more tokens y

Re: perl6storm #0050

2000-09-27 Thread Philip Newton
On 26 Sep 2000, Johan Vromans wrote: > Philip Newton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > > so fewer "cluttering" > > parentheses are needed to make things readable while still being correct. > > By the same reasoning, you can reduce the use of curlies by using > indentation to define block structur

Re: perl6storm #0050

2000-09-26 Thread Simon Cozens
On Tue, Sep 26, 2000 at 12:43:07PM -0700, Robert Mathews wrote: > Ok, you've proved that lisp doesn't make sense without all those > annoying parentheses. Congratulations. Fortunately, perl isn't lisp. Correct, John bringing lisp into the discussion *was* a canard. -- Writing software is more

Re: perl6storm #0050

2000-09-26 Thread John Porter
Simon Cozens wrote: > > Maybe you'd prefer this: > > defun Schwartzian func list mapcar lambda x car x sort mapcar > lambda x cons x funcall func x list lambda x y < cdr x cdr y What happened to the newlines? Also, "no parens" is not the only alternative to having parens. Other punctiation is

Re: perl6storm #0050

2000-09-26 Thread Robert Mathews
Simon Cozens wrote: > (defun Schwartzian (func list) > (mapcar >(lambda (x) (car x)) >(sort > (mapcar > (lambda (x) (cons x (funcall func x))) > list > ) > (lambda (x y) (< (cdr x) (cdr y))) > ) >) > ) > > Maybe you'd prefer this: > > defun Schwartzian

Re: perl6storm #0050

2000-09-26 Thread Simon Cozens
On Tue, Sep 26, 2000 at 02:06:47PM -0400, John Porter wrote: > > Since when do parentheses make things less readable? > > Can you say "lisp"? "lisp". (defun Schwartzian (func list) (mapcar (lambda (x) (car x)) (sort (mapcar (lambda (x) (cons x (funcall func x))) list

Re: perl6storm #0050

2000-09-26 Thread John Porter
Johan Vromans wrote: > Philip Newton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > > so fewer "cluttering" > > parentheses are needed to make things readable while still being correct. > > Since when do parentheses make things less readable? > What is your definition of readable? Can you say "lisp"? -- Joh

Re: perl6storm #0050

2000-09-26 Thread Johan Vromans
Philip Newton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > so fewer "cluttering" > parentheses are needed to make things readable while still being correct. By the same reasoning, you can reduce the use of curlies by using indentation to define block structure. -- Johan

Re: perl6storm #0050

2000-09-26 Thread Johan Vromans
Philip Newton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > so fewer "cluttering" > parentheses are needed to make things readable while still being correct. Since when do parentheses make things less readable? What is your definition of readable? -- Johan

Re: perl6storm #0050

2000-09-24 Thread Dave Storrs
On Sat, 23 Sep 2000, raptor wrote: > > On Thu, 21 Sep 2000, Tom Christiansen wrote: > > > > > =item perl6storm #0050 > > > > > > Radical notion: consider removing precedence. > > > Wrong precedence makes people miserable. > What if we have these 2 rules or no rules AND we can set manualy the >

Re: perl6storm #0050

2000-09-23 Thread raptor
> On Thu, 21 Sep 2000, Tom Christiansen wrote: > > > =item perl6storm #0050 > > > > Radical notion: consider removing precedence. > > Wrong precedence makes people miserable. > > (Some people already suggest that Perl only has two precedence rules: (1) > multiplication and division come before add