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000079_icon-group-sender _Tue May 11 12:50:01 1993.msg
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1993-06-16
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Received: by cheltenham.cs.arizona.edu; Tue, 11 May 1993 18:34:52 MST
Via: uk.ac.manchester.computer-science; Tue, 11 May 1993 17:10:46 +0100
From: Steve Holden <steve@dtc.co.uk>
Date: Tue, 11 May 93 16:33:40 BST
Message-Id: <8351.9305111533@desktop.desktop.co.uk>
To: icon-group@cs.arizona.edu
Subject: Re: Icon Fan Club...
Status: R
Errors-To: icon-group-errors@cs.arizona.edu
NEVIN ":-)" LIBER (nevin@apple.com) writes, in response to an earlier mail...
> >That is, you'd really like this to work too:
> >
> > { something
> > ; something else
> > ; another something
> > }
> >
> >but it doesn't because C goes and demands an extra semicolon at the
> >end. C's a mess.)
>
> I've written a lot of C (and even some Pascal/Modula 2) code in my time,
> and I've never wanted to write code like this
and neither have I. I always assumed people wrote their code this way
to make it easier to insert and delete statements as units. While
there may have been some justification for that in the days of unit-
record equipment (I presume other members of this group beside myself
have had the joys of programming on IBM 026 and 029 card punches, now
there was a machine, but I digress...) this is the 1990's.
If mouse-based editing isn't flexible enough to cope with your needs,
why not simply (?) use a structured editor with a knowledge of your
particular programming language?
Without wishing to enter or start a C v Algol 68 debate, I agree that
Algol 68 was an elegant language while C might not be. However, most
implementations made you do something stupid liek stropping keywords
(eg 'BEGIN'), just for the elegance of being able to declare variables
spelt the same. I'm a pragmatist, and I'm happy to put up with
reserved words in a language if it means I can turn (churn?) out
reasonable code, comprehensibly, in quick time.
And that's why I like Icon!
regards
Steve
+---------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
| Steve Holden, Technical Director| Desktop Connection Limited |
| steve@desktop.co.uk | Manchester Science Park |
|---------------------------------+ Lloyd Street North |
| Publish and be damned. Publish | Manchester England M15 4EN |
| electronically and be heard. | Tel: +44 61 227 9055 Fax: 226 4922 |
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