Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!mcvax!ukc!dcl-cs!nott-cs!anw
From: anw@nott-cs.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc
Subject: Re: Loops
Message-ID: <557@tuck.nott-cs.UUCP>
Date: 11 Apr 88 17:09:43 GMT
References: <2827@enea.se> <1557@pasteur.Berkeley.Edu> <2773@mmintl.UUCP> <294@tmsoft.UUCP> <2797@mmintl.UUCP> <YWK3hUy00VA88IO0UA@andrew.c
Reply-To: anw@nott-cs.UUCP (Dr A. N. Walker)
Organization: Department of Mathematics, The University, NOTTINGHAM, NG7 2RD, UK.
Lines: 21

In article <YWK3hUy00VA88IO0UA@andrew.cmu.edu> jk3k+@andrew.cmu.edu (Joe Keane) writes:
>While i'm at childish flaming, i might as well say that i _really_ hate `fi',
>`rof', `esac', and `elihw'.  Can anyone say they're a good idea and keep a
>straight face?

	Yes.  "They're a good idea."  :-|

	What's your problem -- the concept of closing off the loop properly,
or the actual words?  OK, the actual words aren't marvellous, but no-one has
suggested anything better that I know of (I don't rate `end_if' and its
relatives very highly), and they have an obvious provenance that goes well
with the usual mathematical convention for paired brackets.

	The *concept* is undeniably a Good Idea, for three reasons:
 a) saves lots of `begin ... end' pairs, reducing code clutter & indentation;
 b) gives both compiler and human a clearer idea of where each construct ends;
 c) makes loops and conditionals a smaller piece of syntax with no ambiguity.
	(Examples supplied on request.)
--
Andy Walker, Maths Dept., Nott'm Univ.
anw@maths.nott.ac.uk