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: 2001-08-01 08:54:35 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!206.13.28.144!news.pacbell.net.POSTED!not-for-mail Message-ID: <3B68272A.9876090B@sneakemail.com> From: Russ <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: <3B676974.C80C72E5@sneakemail.com> <9ff447f2.0107312310.4bfdadf0@posting.google.com> <3B67B0BC.F51C4CB4@sneakemail.com> <9ff447f2.0108010700.7afc19b9@posting.google.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Date: Wed, 01 Aug 2001 08:58:34 -0700 NNTP-Posting-Host: 63.194.87.148 X-Complaints-To: abuse@pacbell.net X-Trace: news.pacbell.net 996681274 63.194.87.148 (Wed, 01 Aug 2001 08:54:34 PDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 01 Aug 2001 08:54:34 PDT Organization: SBC Internet Services Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:10951 Date: 2001-08-01T08:58:34-07:00 List-Id: Adrian Hoe wrote: > > Russ <18k11tm001@sneakemail.com> wrote in message news:<3B67B0BC.F51C4CB4@sneakemail.com>... > > Adrian Hoe wrote: > > > > > > Russ <18k11tm001@sneakemail.com> wrote in message news:<3B676974.C80C72E5@sneakemail.com>... > > > > Well, I guess I touched some raw nerves with my proposal to clean up > > > > Ada's syntax. I certainly appreciate the feedback. > > > > > > > > I have come to the conclusion that my first item (eliminating the "end" > > > > keyword and making the indentation structure an inherent part of the > > > > syntax, as in Python) is NOT a good idea after all. The "end" lines > > > > really do help with readability, particularly for long procedures that > > > > end on a different page than they started. > > > > > > > > However, I still stand by the other items in my proposal. I think > > > > semicolons should be essentially eliminated, > > > > > > I still think a semicolon is nice It serves as a punctuation > > > indicating an end of the statement and the beginning of next How does > > > this paragraph looks like to you Taking away punctuations from written > > > text makes reading difficult Certainly people will likely to make > > > mistake while reading This is an analogy example to your proposition > > > to remove semicolon from Ada > > > > But if almost every sentence were on a separate line, you wouldn't need > > punctuation to mark their end. Besides that; I think; too many; > > punctuation marks; make text; look cluttered; What; do; you; think?; ;') > > Of course if you put semicolons like you did, they look cluttered. > Punctuation should be used correctly and purposefully at the right > place. In Ada, the purpose of semicolon is to mark the end of a > statement. Of course, it is illegal to put a semicolon immediately > after if ... then, not like C where it denotes null statement. > > C: > > if a == 0 then; /* Is perfectly legal */ > > But in Ada: > > if a = 0 then; -- Illegal > > According to your proposition: > > if a = 0 then > a = 1 > b = 2 > c = 3 > end if > > can lead to many errors, for instance: > > if a = 0 then > a = 1 b = 2 > c=3 > end if > > But with Ada: > > if a = 0 then > a = 1; > b = 2; > c = 3; > end if; > > And this is much clearer because at a glance, you see the semicolons > and you see end of statements! Check out how Fortran 95 does it. They don't seem to have the problem you are referring to. Russ