From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,FREEMAIL_FROM autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,bc1361a952ec75ca X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2001-07-30 05:26:08 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!newsfeed.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!feed2.onemain.com!feed1.onemain.com!cyclone-sf.pbi.net!206.13.28.183!nnrp5-w.sbc.net.POSTED!not-for-mail Message-ID: <3B655376.F356E34@sneakemail.com> From: Russ Paielli <18k11tm001@sneakemail.com> X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.77 [en] (X11; U; Linux 2.4.3-20mdk i686) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: How to make Ada a dominant language References: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2001 05:30:46 -0700 NNTP-Posting-Host: 63.194.87.148 X-Complaints-To: abuse@pacbell.net X-Trace: nnrp5-w.sbc.net 996495961 63.194.87.148 (Mon, 30 Jul 2001 05:26:01 PDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2001 05:26:01 PDT Organization: SBC Internet Services Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:10727 Date: 2001-07-30T05:30:46-07:00 List-Id: Scott Andrew Borton wrote: > > In , > Gautier Write-only-address wrote: > > >"I declare count as an integer and set it to 0" > > 1 2 3 > > > >Clearly the syntax with 1-2-3 order is the most > >straightforward. > > It's not clearly more straightforward at all. That's just how you happen to > say it. It's a mistake to justify programming language syntax by comparing it > to natual language syntax, since the latter systems allow for greater > flexibility and were grown, rather than designed. For example, what is wrong > with: > > "I declare an integer named count and set it to 0..." There is nothing fundamentally wrong with it. It is just unnatural and awkward, even if long-time Ada programmers are so used to it they think it is natural. What I am proposing obviously looks more like a non-declaration assignment statement, so it is more consistent. > In any case, I doubt people are going to flock to Ada if its syntax is pushed > more towards the more popular programming languages. The idea is not to push the syntax "toward the more popular programming languages." The idea is to push the syntax toward a cleaner, clearer form. That's WHY Python is so popular. Russ