On Tue, Jun 21, 2016 at 6:08 PM, Brandon Knope via swift-evolution < swift-evolution@swift.org> wrote:
> Actually… we can go pretty scientific on this sort of thing and heat map > keyboard usage to get a better picture of how “usable” this is. > > I pasted a file that contains seven \’s in it and heat mapped it at > https://www.patrick-wied.at/projects/heatmap-keyboard/ > > Even *with* several \’s throughout my source file the majority of my key > presses take place much closer to the $ key than the \ key. > > I think we can all argue about what is clearer or not, but I think for the > majority of us, the \ key is quite inconvenient compared to the keys around > where we type the most. > > I also ran several of iOS 10’s sample code through the heat map and > continue to get pretty similar results: the \ is much further from the > hottest part of the keyboard than the ones closer to where your hand > usually rests. > > Maybe this is flawed, but I think it is hard to argue that the \ is easy > to type when there are far more usable alternatives. > I'm rather unpersuaded by this line of argument. The keyboard is only so big; it's a stretch to say that any key is less than absolutely usable. Moreover, \ is next the delete key, which I presume you use frequently and find no difficulty in reaching. You know what *is* unusable though? Try finding the $ key on an international keyboard. > Brandon > > > > On Jun 21, 2016, at 6:10 PM, Daniel Resnick via swift-evolution < > swift-evolution@swift.org> wrote: > > I also disagree for the same reasons that Gwynne and Brent mentioned: I > find '\(...)' easy to read, fine to type, and consistent with other string > escaping syntax. > > On Tue, Jun 21, 2016 at 3:55 PM, Brent Royal-Gordon via swift-evolution < > swift-evolution@swift.org> wrote: > >> > I find that typing \(var) is very disruptive to my typing flow. The >> more I code in Swift, the more I like it, but every time I'm coding and >> then have to hiccup while typing \ then ( causes me to be annoyed. I know, >> it's minor, but it isn't a key combination that flows quickly. >> > >> > I would much rather have $() or perhaps ${} (like Groovy lang) or >> perhaps @() to go along with other uses of @ throughout the language. >> >> Even though I'm used to Perl's and Ruby's interpolation syntaxes, I >> immediately liked `\(…)`. It's parsimonious: Rather than taking a third >> character (besides \ and ") to mean something special in a string literal, >> it reuses one of the existing ones. There's no need to escape a character >> you wouldn't otherwise have to touch, or to think of another character as >> "magical" in a string. It fits nicely with the rest of the syntax, with `\` >> indicating a special construct and then `()` delimiting an expression, just >> as they do elsewhere in the language. It's an elegant solution to a problem >> traditionally solved inelegantly. It's very Swifty in that way. >> >> > A shifted key, like $ or @, followed by another shifted key like (, >> allows for a much faster flow and they are much closer to the home keys >> than \ which is nearly as far from home keys as possible (and awkward). >> >> >> I don't have any trouble typing it personally. If you find yourself >> accidentally typing `\9` or `|(`, we could probably offer an error for the >> former or warning for the latter with a fix-it. But if you're complaining >> that it takes a tiny fraction of a second longer to type than `$(` would, >> then honestly, I just can't bring myself to care. Swift optimizes for code >> reading. If we wanted to optimize for code typing instead, we'd have a very >> different style. >> >> -- >> Brent Royal-Gordon >> Architechies >> >> _______________________________________________ >> swift-evolution mailing list >> swift-evolution@swift.org >> https://lists.swift.org/mailman/listinfo/swift-evolution >> > > _______________________________________________ > swift-evolution mailing list > swift-evolution@swift.org > https://lists.swift.org/mailman/listinfo/swift-evolution > > > > _______________________________________________ > swift-evolution mailing list > swift-evolution@swift.org > https://lists.swift.org/mailman/listinfo/swift-evolution > >
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