[bitc-dev] Syntax Poll: Scoping Syntax

[Pal-Kristian Engstad]

Jonathan S. Shapiro wrote:
> On Thu, Mar 5, 2009 at 1:38 PM, Zorg 421 <zorglub421 at gmail.com> wrote:
>   
>> Hmm does'nt Jonathan used curly braces in this particular thread to
>> mean "optional", not curly braces?
>>     
>
> Yes. I was using a BNF-like notation. It's hard to do that in an
> ascii-only syntax.To make matters worse, I chose the conventions of
> the OCaml doc, which do not follow the usual conventions.
>
> Where grammar fragments are being discussed, we should use curly
> braces to denote grouping. All uses of grouping will be followed by +
> (one or more) * (zero or more) or ? (zero or one). When curly brace is
> intended to be a token it should be quoted or written out.
>
> So with the rules stated, I was proposing:
>
> let BINDING
>      { and BINDING }* in
>   expr
> end
>
> That is; I did not intend the curly braces literally.
>
> shap
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>
>   
I actually like this idea. In OCaml it is always hard to see when a 
definition ends and this would help it.

It would preclude the OCaml-ish style:

    let _ = printf ... in
    let _ = printf ... in
    let _ = printf ... in
    ()

Because this must now be written (using let's):

    let _ = printf ... in
       let _ = printf ... in
          let _ = printf ... in
             ()
          end
       end
    end

I've always considered that style a bit perverse, so it is perhaps a 
good thing.

PKE.

-- 
Pål-Kristian Engstad (engstad at naughtydog.com), 
Lead Graphics & Engine Programmer,
Naughty Dog, Inc., 1601 Cloverfield Blvd, 6000 North,
Santa Monica, CA 90404, USA. Ph.: (310) 633-9112.

"Emacs would be a far better OS if it was shipped with 
 a halfway-decent text editor." -- Slashdot, Dec 13. 2005.