an enhancement proposal for the language...

[Keith Clarke]

...please
	get some sleep Andre
...end please

;-)

On 26 Apr 2011, at 11:02, Andre Garzia wrote:

> Hey Folks,
> 
> It is about 3:00 AM here and I am coding my presentation and while I was
> struggling with the engine to get some stuff working I came to a realization
> that was something short of an enlightenment moment for me. After thinking
> for a while, I decided to submit this to this list for comments and approval
> and then we can go forward with an enhancement request in the QA.
> 
> It is about syntax and encouraging the engine to be extraordinary. Sometimes
> when you are not sure things will work as expected, you use a block like:
> 
> try
>   ...
>   ...
>   ...
> end try
> 
> I thought about it for a while and remembered master yoda saying: "do or do
> not, try not" and realized that if tell the engine to try out something,
> you're already telling him, hey this stuff might explode, try something...
> The engine upon receiving a try request obviously enters a pessimistic mood
> thinking about all the things that can go wrong and often dies a horrible
> death. To avoid such cases and help the engine to fell encouraged to do his
> best, I decided to revise that syntax. I propose the following:
> 
> please
>   ...
>   ...
>   ...
> end please
> 
> maybe if we asked nicely, the engine will give its best shot at executing
> the commands inside the block. People often give their best when asked
> politely. It is a proven studies by the "Andre Garzia School of Late Night
> Caffeine" that asking "pretty please" at something is better than asking
> "try".
> 
> If we decide to go forware with the transition to a more uplift engine,
> we'll also need to revise things like
> 
> try
>   ...
>   ...
>   ...
> catch
>   ...
> end try
> 
> 
> After all what does "catch" means (my guess is the engine shouting 'catch
> that running exception' with a cop voice). Catch will not work with
> please... so I think we should do:
> 
> please
>   ...
>   ...
>   ...
> oh no
>   ...
>   ...
> end please
> 
> "oh no" is better than catch and quickly summarizes the state of mind that a
> developer should be if he ever faces that specific part of the code.
> 
> With these additions, I believe we'll have a happier engine and better
> development experience.
> 
> Cheers
> andre
> -- 
> http://www.andregarzia.com All We Do Is Code.
> _______________________________________________
> use-livecode mailing list
> use-livecode at lists.runrev.com
> Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences:
> http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode