Re: [stack] Thread, a vaguely related query language (and hello!)

chris.double wrote:----------
 Factor's 'if' is:

 boolean [ then ] [ else ] if

 You might be thinking of Joy which is:

 [ predicate ] [ then ] [ else ] ifte
--------------
Yes and 'canonical' asm [what the CPU wants from the compiler] is
  <predicate expression>
JMPtoELSEifFale
  <ThenStatement>
  JMPtoExit
ELSE: <ElseStatement>
Exit:

The point is: these are designed for the hardware.
The language should be designed for the HUMAN.
So, the criteria should be psychological considerations.
We techies, aren't trained to openly discuss these vital aspects.
---------
Again, the reason why the token indicating the structure type should be FIRST,
is to avoid the 'German-like' situation, were you get the first clue of the verb
at the start of the sentence, and then have to retain/stack the rest of the
sentence until the closing part of the verb allows 'resolution'.
Especially for nested IfThenElses, this unnecessary cognitive load is bad.
-------
gmcdonald wrote:-
Chris Glur's exhortation to put  LANGUAGE KEYWORDS IN ALL CAPS
-------
No it's NOT my idea. It's from pascal/oberon, designed by one of computing
hi-priests, who was part of the Algol design committees in the 60s.
Like y'all, I've been 'just doing it for years'.
Only recently, did I start to analyse, and realise that the new-stuff is
inferior.
-----------
Terseness contributes to 'being able to see as much of the CONCEPT at once'.
OTOH the java-style of LOngDescriptiveNouns has merit.
BTW compare YOUR English sentences to mine re. terseness.
-----------
Because you kiddies choose to use blogs and stuff which can't conveniently
retain a thread, like Usenet, which was designed by engineers CAN, I don't know
if I mentioned Backus.78's, which elaborates this topic. Or was that ONLY in
my <Backus'78 style for increased productivety> usenet post?
----BTW re. shouting the keywords; I'd go further. I love syntax
colouring editors.
A comment by Manfred von Thun that his 'posts were coming out all jaggered'
confused me.  I hate technical-text which is formatted in equal length lines,
with word splits like "con-veniently". I.e. with no structure.
But why should my psychological preferences over-ride yours.
OTOH these subtle aspects need to be discussed.

It's economical to use colour, UPPERCASE and 'layout' to convey the several
'dimensions' of the concept-stream; instead of relying on 'linear-decoding'.
It's uneconomical for transfering complex technical concepts between people
for each to need to be a wordsmith, with the same assumptions.

Admit: ya'all speak English just because that's how you were born.



On 10/20/10, glenn mcdonald <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>> ...compactness is a primary measure of the power of a programming
>> language.
>>
>
> A slightly different way of looking at this is that the more a program looks
> like it's about what it's actually about, the better the interaction between
> programmer and program will be, and ultimately this has a positive effect on
> the quality of the produced software. Thus terseness isn't exactly an end in
> itself, but a tactic for keeping the mechanics of the language out of the
> way of the program and the programmer. Chris Glur's exhortation to put
> LANGUAGE KEYWORDS IN ALL CAPS is pretty much the opposite approach, a kind
> of shouty programming-language narcissism in which the programs are more
> about the act of (trying to) program than they are about their nominal
> subjects.
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>