From: Sean Russell <ser@...>
Date: 2001-05-05T23:12:08+09:00
Subject: [ruby-talk:14708] Commas

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Hi again,

Here's a general syntax question:

Why commas?

Specifically, why are they required?  Does it make parsing easier?  I can't 
think of a way in which it makes a statement less ambiguous to require 
commas.  For example:

	def myProc( a, b, c )
		# ...
	end

	myProc 1 2 3

How can the parser think that this is anything other than a proc call with 
multiple arguments.  I say this, given the fact that:

	myProc 1, 2, 3

IS legal.  For that matter, commas in arrays and argument lists also seem 
superfluous to me:

	[ 1 2 3 4 5 ]
	def myProc( a b c )

I know we can simulate the first with %w{}, which makes me think all the more 
that commas are unneccessary.  I guess I'm thinking of TCL, but can anyone 
give me an example where removing the commas would create an ambiguous 
statement?

- --- SER
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