On Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:54:28 -0800, Steve Ferg wrote:
> For a long time I've wondered why languages still use blocks
> (delimited by do/end, begin/end, { } , etc.) in ifThenElse statements.
>
> I've often thought that a language with this kind of block-free syntax
> would be nice and intuitive:
>
> if <condition> then
> do stuff
> elif <condition> then
> do stuff
> else
> do stuff
> endif
>
> Note that you do not need block delimiters.
> Does anybody know a language with this kind of syntax for
> ifThenElseEndif?
BBC BASIC V had if/then/else/endif (it didn't have elif).
"make" has if/else/else/endif (it doesn't have a dedicated elif, but
"else if ..." behaves like elif rather than starting a nested "if").
> Is there any particular reason why this might be a *bad* language-
> design idea?
Blocks can be useful for other reasons (e.g. limiting variable scope), so
if you already have them, you don't need to provide dedicated blocks
for control constructs.
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