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From: raymond@twinkies.berkeley.edu (Raymond Chen)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc
Subject: Re: Anyone want to design a language?
Message-ID: <1990Feb20.025947.16211@agate.berkeley.edu>
Date: 20 Feb 90 02:59:47 GMT
References: <22569:05:10:24@stealth.acf.nyu.edu>
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Reply-To: raymond@math.berkeley.edu (Raymond Chen)
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[I regret that I have but one line to give for my...MUNCH]

One of the few things I like about Pascal is its rigid typing.

If I have defined [using C-style notation]

typedef int xcoord;
typedef int ycoord;
typedef int attrib;

void put_as_at(char c, attrib a, xcoord x, ycoord y) { ... }

then it would be nice if the compiler would flag

{   xcoord x; ycoord y; char c; attrib a;
    foo(y,x,a,c);
}

as potentially erroneous (A warning is fine).  It's amazing how many
stupid errors are caused by passing parameters to a function in the
wrong order.  (And yes, of course, there should be a way to tell
the compiler "No, really, I know what I'm doing, trust me.")

Would also be fun if I could invoke the function above as

	put c as a at (x,y)
	^^^   ^^   ^^       <- these guys are the function name

(In the never-ending quest to make pseudo-code a proper computer language!)

As for using indentation to indicate block structure:  This can lead
to ridiculous code when your indentation marches off the edge of the
paper.  It also could create entries into the Obfuscated [language-name]
Code Contest like this:

foo(a,b,c)
	if blah
		while blah
			for blah
				if blah
					for blah
						while blah
							if blah
								for blah
									if blah
										while blah
											if blah
												grumble
		blurfle		// guess what indentation level this is at!
bar(x,y,z)			// this too.  Is it a function call or
				// a function declaration?


Apart from having immense fun with indentation, it also causes problems
if you cut and paste a clump of code from one place to another if the
destination has a different indentation level from the source.

If my memory serves me right, this experiment with "indentation determines
block structure" was used in a Pascal dialect many years ago.  I don't
remember what eventually happened to it.
--
 raymond@math.berkeley.edu         mathematician by training, hacker by choice