[E-Lang] syntax for newbies: where's the dot?

[zooko@zooko.com]

 MarkM wrote:

> I got rid of "." for the same reasons I got rid of ";":
> 
> 1) For command language usage.  The most command commands will be
> 
>     receiver msgName
> 
> Eventually, I want to so command line completion on the msgName as well.
> 
> In any case, for the kind of really casual usage you want on a command line, 
> space really is easier to hit than plus, and I believe this makes a difference.
> 
> 
> 2) To remove visual noise.  "." and ";" add no new information, and simply 
> make the code harder for the eye to parse.  I actually would have liked to 
> go to Python-like block structure by indentation for the same reason, but as 
> you're corroborating, that would have gone too far.



Hm.  I have two things to say:


First, I'm not sure whether I think that eliminating the dot is a win
or not on beauty, readability and convenience.  After I have looked at
some more code and typed some code, if you are still interested in
opinions about such things, I will let know how I feel about the
syntax.


Second, this is a case where you have chosen the side of beauty,
readability and convenience over the side of comfort for newly arrived
C++/Java programmers.


Perhaps you feel that the advantages of having no dot are so dramatic
that it is worth the cost of deterring some Java programmers by the
unfamiliar syntax.  Or perhaps you don't *really* think that, but you
let your inherent love of beauty get the best of you for a few years,
and now you're ready to reconsider.  :-)


Regards,

Zooko