Arthur Chan wrote: > That > said, there are some of us who feel that that the python infix syntax is > clearer, and as it corresponds more directly to the mathematical > notation, it is just as provably correct as the List.mem notation is. > If reusing "in" is a big deal, then maybe we could do "in_list" or > "inlist"? That'd be more type-safe too.
Just a small correction, if you will alow me. When we speak of correctness of a programming language we do not say that "syntax is provably correct" but rather that the "implementation is correct". For example, we could say "Ocaml has a correct compiler" in the sense that type-safe programs don't explode (which is false), or "functional core of Ocaml has correct operational semantics" with respect to standard domain-theoretic denotational semantics. But we do not say "the mem syntax is provably correct". Actually, the whole phrase "provably correct" is often misused in computer science, at least the way I understand it. If you prove something then it is "proved correct", while a thing is "provably correct" if we _could_ prove it correct. Perhaps a native speaker of English can clarify this point. > The python syntax goes further than just the "in" bit, in fact. They > can do list comprehensions like [for x in blah if f(x)]. Now every > functional guru will recognize this immediately as the bastardization of > List.filter. While it'd be nice to have that, I come across List.filter > much less than List.exists/mem. I rather like the Python comprehension syntax, as well as Haskell's. I also really like Haskell's infix notation x `op` y. > Whatever.... it's just a minor quibble, but this thread was about > syntax extensions, after all. Isn't everything on this list a minor quibble? ;-) Best regards, Andrej _______________________________________________ Caml-list mailing list. Subscription management: http://yquem.inria.fr/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/caml-list Archives: http://caml.inria.fr Beginner's list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ocaml_beginners Bug reports: http://caml.inria.fr/bin/caml-bugs
