From: dblack@...
Date: 2006-07-30T01:54:27+09:00
Subject: Re: Wild ideas: Finding a missing 'end'

Hi --

On Sun, 30 Jul 2006, kate rhodes wrote:

> The problem with using indentation to even guess at an area in pretty much
> any language other than python is that it would require a huge amount of
> logic to account for the myriad possible edge cases.
>
> What happens when a user mixes tabs and spaces?
> If one line is indented 3 spaces and the next is 4 is that a typo or is it
> an intentional indication of a subsection?
> What happens when there's a long method call that the developer has decided
> to indent a portion of on a second line instead of having the thing stretch
> way off to the right of the typical viewing area?
>
> You could go on and on and on and on with screwed up cases like this? Either
> you write something complex enough to figure out what the hell us crazy
> humans meant or you get misleading results which in my opinion is worse than
> no results.
>
> Remember, a solution in the Ruby core has to work for all users not just the
> users who happen to have good and consistent indentation habits.

The solution could be to give a specific hint if it's a simple case,
and not if it isn't :-)


David

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