1. Re: 8-bit characters in identifiers, and an old message reply
Thanks a lot, Igor.
While I'm at it, I still remember things you said about coding
discipline. I may not agree with the priority list, while we probably
mean about the same.
Programming means: let a finite-state machine implement what you have
in mind, which is a picture, a control flow, or any sort of fancy, fuzzy
object. So you don't have a "GetItDone()" button, and you have to
restrain the way you think to what the finite-state automaton can
handle. In this respect, coding is a discipline just as harsh as
military discipline can be.
But there is a huge difference here. Depending on your position in the
army, you are submitted to or enforce this discipline. Butcomputer
coding interfaces are multiple, so you can have various styles of
coding, some languages may be better suited for some purposes than
others, etc..
So, there is freedom of choice, which is a big difference. If,
furthermore, the programming community has some say on what the language
permits, this freedom of choice is enhanced further. That's why I think
it is feasible and favourable to suggest or request that a language
acommodate for more coding styles or ways of expression, even at the
cost of some redundancy.
Somebody on this list said that a language should be kept as simple as
possible in order to concentrate on the program, not the coding. Well,
the less distorsion you have between what you have in mind and the
actual coding, the less distracted from th final goal you are, and this
probably reduces the number of bugs and logical flaws in the source at
early stages.
I am not a professional coder, so I feel quite free about using any
language I feel fit. If I decide to code something big, I'll have to
decide between C++ (or Delphi) and an enhanced form of Euphoria. I
didn't test the newer rparse, but it looks like an excellent and likely
alternative.
Have a nice day!
CChris
