Re: [OT] interesting reason why a language is considered good

["Dmitry A. Kazakov" <mailbox@dmitry-kazakov.de>]

On Mon, 16 Apr 2012 23:48:15 +0200, Georg Bauhaus wrote:

> On 16.04.12 20:00, Dmitry A. Kazakov wrote:
> 
>> You asked for examples of programs allegedly suffering from generality of
>> the word "when", here is one:
> 
> Actually I asked for programs that profit from generality of words
> like "when" used as identifiers.

If you want to go that way, then I will ask you to show such programs for
"why", "whose" etc. It always works (does not, actually) in both ways.

>>     case Alignment is
>>         when Left =>  ...;
>>         when Right =>  ...;
>>         when Middle =>  ...;
>>     end case;
> 
> What's the pain?

Yes, what pain? Why this program didn't suffered from using the dreadful
"when"?

> I have tried to explain that generic identifiers do not inform about
> specific things.

And I answered that this does not make them *reserved*.

>>> Simon Wright has recently shown a nice way how to mend the situation
>>> with X and Y for surface orientation, using Ada 2012 (substituting
>>> Northings and Eastings in the profile, IIRC).
>>
>> I wonder what Australians would say about that.
> 
> You don't mean that Australian drivers (or pilots) do not know how
> to head North?

I mean that "North" is probably not the best replacement for "vertical."
And the latter is probably not same as "Y." It is sometimes "Z." The choice
of names is always a difficult one, which also depends on the context of
use, as Randy has pointed out.

>> See. In other words, there are other reasons why "when" is reserved.
>> Exactly my point.
> 
> Not the point in question, I think.  The point in question is what happens
> when even words like "when", i.e. even those that happen to be reserved
> now, do loose that special status.

See, it has nothing to do with the meaning of a word. The only reason why
"when" should possibly be reserved is on syntactic grounds. That should be
considered from case to case. Specifically "when" could be allowed, I
guess.

>>>> Statistically irrelevant.
>>>
>>> I know I am not statistically relevant. Yet, for actual statistics,
>>> if you see how programs are written in the low budget industry
>>> that might change your mind.
>>
>> You mean that low budget industry has no access to an editor capable to
>> colourise Ada source code? Come on, gedit, AdaGide, GPS are free!
> 
> A graphical terminal on site? Wow!  I am used to SSH.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/xming  +  putty

-- 
Regards,
Dmitry A. Kazakov
http://www.dmitry-kazakov.de