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=-0.4 required=5.0 tests=AC_FROM_MANY_DOTS,BAYES_00 autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,54889de51045a215 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2003-10-01 05:38:32 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news2.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!in.100proofnews.com!in.100proofnews.com!cycny01.gnilink.net!cyclone1.gnilink.net!spamkiller2.gnilink.net!nwrdny03.gnilink.net.POSTED!53ab2750!not-for-mail From: "Frank J. Lhota" Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada References: <3F7316F7.219F@mail.ru> Subject: Re: += in ada X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1158 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1165 Message-ID: Date: Wed, 01 Oct 2003 12:38:32 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 141.154.200.8 X-Complaints-To: abuse@verizon.net X-Trace: nwrdny03.gnilink.net 1065011912 141.154.200.8 (Wed, 01 Oct 2003 08:38:32 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 01 Oct 2003 08:38:32 EDT Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:63 Date: 2003-10-01T12:38:32+00:00 List-Id: "Peter Amey" wrote in message news:ble3d6$aus9m$1@ID-69815.news.uni-berlin.de... > Surely, if you have minimalist sensibilties you would replace: > > "count = count + 1" with "False"? I know that using "=" for assignment goes all the way back to Fortran and Basic, but it has always been a source of confusion. That's why I would prefer ":=" for assignment, and "+:=" for the increment operator. The best symbol for assignment that I have seen is a left arrow, e.g. "count ? count + 1". Visually, it is quite suggestive of assigment (the value on the right goes into the variable on the left) and it would never be confused with testing for equality. Both APL and early versions of Smalltalk used the left arrow for assignment. As far as I can tell, the only reason why the left arrow is not used more often is that it is not a standard 7-bit ASCII character.