On Sunday, 27 January 2013 at 15:42:40 UTC, TommiT wrote:
On Sunday, 27 January 2013 at 15:22:34 UTC, Dicebot wrote:
And how it is any better? Also D sources are unicode, so last
two are possible just now and you need no special keyboard for
it. Still the same good old text.
I don't know if what I invented is any better, but my attempt
was to make something that's easier to read and less ambiguous
than plain text. For example parenthesis would be used only to
define the order in which expressions are evaluated, and _not_
to indicate a section of arguments.
But are you really arguing that: "there can be nothing better
than plain text for programmers to declare their intent". I
wonder why we even have graphic operating systems, if graphic
elements don't make thing easier to use and understand.
To me, saying that "D is bad language, because in order to most
effectively write and understand the code requires some
dedicated software" is like saying "Avid is a bad editing
software, because using it most effectively requires some
custom keyboard". You can write and understand D code, where
parentheses of nullary function calls have been omitted, in
notepad - it just may not be most optimal environment. Just
like you can use Avid with a regular keyboard, it just may not
be most optimal to do so (unless you remember all the keys by
heart already).
More noise -> not easier to read. It may has a merit when
designing grammar unambiguous for reader with limited symbol
count is impossible but otherwise simple unambiguous
representation beats complex one. Also your proposal is not very
different from plain text, it is about on the level of syntax
highlighting.
We do have graphic operating systems and power users still do use
consoles/shells for advanced operating system-related work.
Because graphic elements are easier to understand, but harder
(less efficient) to use. I am perfectly fine with relaxed mouse
clicking when I am browsing or watching films or whatever, but
when I do work - please, give me a pair of my trusted text shells.
I don't know what Avid is but if it requires custom keyboard for
proper usage - it is either bad or targeted to users with weak
computer competence (and googling shows it is some audio editing
stuff, this second option is likely).
