Inconsistent comma requirements

[Richard Gaskin]

Mark Wieder wrote:

 > On 06/24/2017 08:37 AM, Richard Gaskin via use-livecode wrote:
 >
 >>    DoSomething with a and b
 >>
 >> Two questions:
 >>
 >> How many of you have never before known that commas are optional
 >> between definition arguments?
 >
 > <hand raised>
 >
 > However, I don't think that particular syntactic sugar, at least,
 > would work. The "and" operator is already in use as a logical anding
 > of two parameters, so there's no way for the parser to differentiate
 > between that and a list of two separate parameters.

Yeah, just a pipe dream, but a pleasant one.

On the other hand, perhaps a rule could be introduced that any keywords 
used in arg strings with no commas when calling a custom handler are 
treated as literal text.

We do generally tread lightly with keywords, and often for good reason. 
But at the same time the language is chock full o' "sometimes" rules, so 
apparently the engine is already smart enough now and then to use a 
token different ways depending on context.

For example, like other xTalks LC uses "=" as a comparison operator, but 
not for assignments as is commonly done in other languages.

But only sometimes.  When used to define a script-local var or constant, 
the engine is smart enough to notice the context and allow the readable, 
compact form that uses "=" for assignment, e.g.:

   constant kWindowMin = 500
   local sMaxConnections = 10000

I'm not advocating that the engine team take time away from more 
critical tasks (like restoring video playback on Linux soon? <g>) to 
monkey with trivialities like comma-free handler params.

It was just odd to find something so fundamental to the language that 
I'd never seen before in all my years with LC.  And apparently there are 
at least two of us.



PS: I tried using the Dictionary to find "and" in order to review any 
nuances about its use, but alas was merely reminded why the new Dict 
isn't as useful as the old one (beyond the painfully generous white space):

When I run that search I get a great many results, unsorted and 
apparently unranked, most not relevant to my search, and with the exact 
match hidden somewhere in the bottom third of the results list, which 
mystifyingly includes "exit", "export with palette", and 
"MCISendString", among others.

Since the old Dictionary was written entirely in LiveCode and the new 
one wraps JavaScript inside the browser widget, in a way the funky 
results make a very strong statement about the power of LiveCode, 
however subtly presented:

On the TIOBE index JavaScript is listed as the world's seventh most 
popular language.  We're told that one of the reasons languages that 
reach the tipping point of the TIOBE Top 50 stay there is because they 
have vast ecosystems of good libraries available for common tasks, like 
search.

Yet what we see in practice here is that it's easier to write a custom 
indexing and search subsystem from scratch in LC than it is to merely 
find one of equivalent quality in the JavaScript world.

:)

Vive le LiveCode!

-- 
  Richard Gaskin
  Fourth World Systems
  Software Design and Development for the Desktop, Mobile, and the Web
  ____________________________________________________________________
  Ambassador at FourthWorld.com                http://www.FourthWorld.com