Re: A New Revealation: Semi-Permeable Membranes Bill Frantz (frantz@communities.com)
Tue, 26 Oct 1999 11:30:30 -0700

At 11:07 AM 10/26/1999 -0700, Mark S. Miller wrote:
>At 10:47 AM 10/26/99 , Bill Frantz wrote:
>>At 07:43 AM 10/26/1999 -0700, Douglas Crockford wrote:
>> >> [#] If we're really talking about guards, then ":" only seems natural.
>> >>
>> >> define square(x : int) : int { x * x }
>> >
>> >I like this notation a lot.
>>
>>[#] I think I would like consistancy as to where the guard is specified.
>>For example:
>> define square(int : x) int : { x * x }
>
>[?] Why is left-of-colon more consistent than right-of-colon?

[#] Having the guard always to the left of the value is more consistant than having it on the right for parameters and on the left for the routine body. One could put it on the right for all values:

define square(x : int) { x * x } : int

But that requires someone to scan to the end of the body to see the guard.