on Wed Nov 02 2016, Jens Alfke <jens-AT-mooseyard.com> wrote: >> On Nov 2, 2016, at 12:50 PM, Dave Abrahams via swift-users >> <swift-users@swift.org> wrote: >> >> In my opinion, we can and must do much better for Swift. If there's >> something about “%” formatting that you particularly value, I'd like to >> know about it, so I can make sure it's accomodated. > > It offers more control over formatting, like min/max widths, number > base, decimal places, etc. Yes, you can do this in the code inside the > interpolated string, but IMHO it’s awkward because it requires knowing > a bunch of extra methods for string conversion, truncation, etc. It’s > a lot easier for me to remember and type “%x” than it is to remember > and type the method that converts an int to a hex string.
In my view this should look like "... \(x.format(radix: 16, width: 12))... " Where the possible arguments to format() are statically known to the compiler (and code completion!) based on the type of x. > > Also (and more importantly for localization) the formatting details > are part of the localizable format string, not hardwired. One example > of this is formatting currency, where a US localization would use > “$%.2f” but other currencies might call for more or fewer decimal > places. Yep, I'm paying attention to that, thanks. > There are other examples where one might swap format strings for other > purposes like different-width layouts for monospaced/terminal output. I think we can leverage the same mechanisms used for localization to handle those. > There’s also a nonstandard extension used by Cocoa/CF’s formatters, > that allows the parameters to be reordered. (I haven’t used it so I > don’t know the syntax offhand.) This is of course important for > localization, to follow a language’s grammar. Right, that's crucial. > I think these features could be added to interpolation. Just as a > quick idea, maybe a syntax that allows formatting metacharacters to be > added at the start of the interpolation, like “Please pay $\((.2) > total)” where the “(.2) specifies two decimal places, or “The address > is \((x) addr)”. I think the “.format(...)” approach is better, but it's equally important that there are sufficient outside-the-Swift-source knobs for localizers to add language-specific formatting parameters. -- -Dave _______________________________________________ swift-users mailing list swift-users@swift.org https://lists.swift.org/mailman/listinfo/swift-users
