The prefix symbol

[Colin Decker]

How does it actually *help* anything to use some annoying to type symbol for
this? It being cool won't do anyone any good.

-- 
Colin


On Tue, Jun 21, 2011 at 5:45 PM, Lawrence Kesteloot <lk at teamten.com> wrote:

> Okay so this is 2011. Can we use the Unicode lambda symbol? Of course
> also support some digraph, like ,\
>
> IDEs would adapt instantly, as would window-based editors like gvim.
> Terminal text editors might have problems. Then there are possible
> problems with source file encoding ambiguity (when not specified
> explicitly).
>
> So yeah there would be a bunch of problems, but if we could solve
> them, how *cool* would that be?
>
> Lawrence
>
>
>
> On Tue, Jun 21, 2011 at 8:27 PM, maurizio cimadamore
> <maurizio.cimadamore at oracle.com> wrote:
> > On 21/06/2011 17:47, Pavel Minaev wrote:
> >> Isn't this only true for statement lambdas? What about Strawman
> >> expression syntax, which doesn't have ')' '{'?
> > I was assuming a simplified version of Strawman (that has been discussed
> > in this mailing list) in which both statements and expressions have the
> > '{' '}'.
> >
> > Maurizio
> >>
> >> Either way, it seems that it would require infinite lookahead to parse?
> >>
> >> On Tue, Jun 21, 2011 at 9:18 AM, Maurizio Cimadamore
> >> <maurizio.cimadamore at oracle.com
> >> <mailto:maurizio.cimadamore at oracle.com>> wrote:
> >>
> >>     On 21/06/11 17:14, Sam Pullara wrote:
> >>     > Both the $ and _ are valid method names so this would likely not
> >>     work.
> >>     This wouldn't be much of a problem, as the Strawman syntax cannot
> >>     possibly be confused with a method call - the compiler would need to
> >>     look for the 'special' token sequence ')' '{' after the '_' or '$'.
> >>
> >>     Maurizio
> >>     > Sam
> >>     >
> >>     > On Jun 21, 2011, at 2:57 AM, Maurizio Cimadamore wrote:
> >>     >
> >>     >> On 21/06/11 10:42, Milos Nikic wrote:
> >>     >>> Well since you are mentioning, i think it is not  unreasonable
> >>     to say that
> >>     >>> $ could be on this list too.
> >>     >>> $ is not very different than #, in that java web developers
> >>     use # for jsf
> >>     >>> based expressions, and $ for jsp ones.
> >>     >>>
> >>     >>> $(x) { return x + 1; }
> >>     >>> ${x ->   x + 1}
> >>     >> What about '_' as in:
> >>     >>
> >>     >> _(x) { return x + 1; }
> >>     >>
> >>     >>
> >>     >> It's less intrusive than # and it has that 'unnamed' feeling that
> I
> >>     >> think fits well in this case...
> >>     >>
> >>     >> Maurizio
> >>     >>> Regards,
> >>     >>> Milos
> >>     >>>
> >>     >>> On Tue, Jun 21, 2011 at 11:35 AM, Stephen Colebourne
> >>     >>> <scolebourne at joda.org <mailto:scolebourne at joda.org>>wrote:
> >>     >>>
> >>     >>>> Prefix character summary after 15 hours:
> >>     >>>>
> >>     >>>> Use a #
> >>     >>>>   #(x) { return x + 1; }
> >>     >>>>   #{x ->   x + 1}
> >>     >>>>
> >>     >>>> Use a ^
> >>     >>>>   ^(x) { return x + 1; }
> >>     >>>>   ^{x ->   x + 1}
> >>     >>>>
> >>     >>>> Use a \ (from another thread)
> >>     >>>>   \(x) { return x + 1; }
> >>     >>>>   \{x ->   x + 1}
> >>     >>>>
> >>     >>>> (I'm not listing keywords that have been suggested elsewhere)
> >>     >>>>
> >>     >>>> Issues around typing the various characters on different
> >>     keyboards
> >>     >>>> have been raised.
> >>     >>>>
> >>     >>>> Once again, does anyone have a character they prefer more
> >>     than one of
> >>     >>>> the three above that they want to be considered? Remember,
> >>     this isn't
> >>     >>>> a vote, or a discussion thread, but a "gathering the options"
> >>     thread.
> >>     >>>>
> >>     >>>> Stephen
> >>     >>>>
> >>     >>>>
> >>     >>>> On 20 June 2011 18:54, Stephen
> >>     Colebourne<scolebourne at joda.org <mailto:scolebourne at joda.org>>
> >>     wrote:
> >>     >>>>> The four syntax families split into two types, those with a
> >>     prefix
> >>     >>>>> symbol and those without.
> >>     >>>>>
> >>     >>>>> The prefix symbol is commonly mentioned as #:
> >>     >>>>>
> >>     >>>>> #(x) { return x + 1; }
> >>     >>>>> #{x ->   x + 1}
> >>     >>>>>
> >>     >>>>>
> >>     >>>>> *** If you have a strong desire to see any symbol other than #
> >>     >>>>> considered then please respond to this thread. ***
> >>     >>>>>
> >>     >>>>> - Your reply MUST specify the symbol
> >>     >>>>> - Your reply MUST give a brief justification
> >>     >>>>> - Your reply MUST repeat the two examples above using your
> >>     preferred
> >>     >>>> symbol
> >>     >>>>> - You SHOULD try to ensure that your alternate symbol choice
> >>     would
> >>     >>>>> parse acceptably
> >>     >>>>> - You MAY reply to suggest a keyword, however you should
> >>     expect that
> >>     >>>>> to be rejected
> >>     >>>>>
> >>     >>>>> Thread rules:
> >>     >>>>> - Only reply if you prefer your alternate symbol to #
> >>     >>>>> - To discuss something, change the thread title
> >>     >>>>> - Don't reply just to say "I don't want a prefix symbol"
> >>     >>>>> - Responding with a symbol suggestion doesn't preclude your
> >>     first
> >>     >>>>> choice actually being "no prefix symbol"
> >>     >>>>>
> >>     >>>>> For example, my preferred choice of prefix symbol is #, thus
> >>     I should
> >>     >>>>> not respond to this thread!
> >>     >>>>>
> >>     >>>>> Stephen
> >>     >>>>> (this is an experiment to see if we can focus on one
> particular
> >>     >>>>> discussion element at a time)
> >>     >>>>>
> >>     >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> >
>
>