Re: [Caml-list] Ocaml syntax.

[skaller <skaller@ozemail.com.au>]

On Wed, 2003-12-24 at 08:52, brogoff@speakeasy.net wrote:

> > The native ocaml syntax has a bunch of strange inconsistencies. 

> If I believed that, I'd be using Perl and C++ more than I do. Nope, I think
> "hysterical raisins" and human laziness/inertia/risk-avoidance explains a lot.

Some of the 'inconsistencies' aren't: an 'arbitrary' decision
was made, and the result seems 'inconsistent' only when
you're not the beneficiary of the choice made :-)

As a comparison, Felix mimics many Ocaml constructions
but uses slightly different syntax in some cases.
In particular:

	<statement> ;
	match .. with .. endmatch
	if .. then .. else .. endif

but I still use

	let .. in .. 

unterminated. My opinion is that the endmatch
is ugly, longwinded, but otherwise desirable.

However, the if/then/else/endif leads to a
lot of extra ugly 'endif' keywords for chains,
which also force incorrect nesting.

The fix of course is to include 

	elif

as a suboption. I'm seriously thinking
of the equivalent for matches:

	match .. with
	...
	elmatch .. with
	..
	else 
	..
	endmatch

and now, the original Ocaml syntax looks simpler .. 

especially when you consider that 'elif' makes
sense in a match, and 'elmatch' makes sense in
a conditional ... 


-------------------
To unsubscribe, mail caml-list-request@inria.fr Archives: http://caml.inria.fr
Bug reports: http://caml.inria.fr/bin/caml-bugs FAQ: http://caml.inria.fr/FAQ/
Beginner's list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ocaml_beginners