From: gwtmp01@...
Date: 2005-07-18T02:55:50+09:00
Subject: Re: `not' in parameter lists


On Jul 17, 2005, at 1:20 PM, Daniel Brockman wrote:
> Is there any word on the chances of this becoming allowed in the  
> future?
> I mean, is it definitely ruled out, or is there room for persuation?

Personally I don't like this sort of "change" to a language or library.
There are certain *core* ideas in a programming language (or library
or framework) that should be obvious to every single programmer using
that system. Flexibility in a language is important but should only
be used to augment the core language.  When the flexibility is used
to obfuscate the core ideas via a "dialect" the result is often only
of use to the original author.

Here is a function from the Version 7 Bourne Shell that was
notorious for its abuse of C macros:

INT    pathopen(path, name)
     REG STRING    path, name;
{
     REG UFD        f;

     REP path=catpath(path,name);
     PER (f=open(curstak(), O_RDONLY))<0 ANDF path DONE
     return(f);
}

What exactly is going on here?  What is REP, PER, ANDF, DONE?


Gary Wright