From: Quinn Dunkan <quinn@...>
Date: 2000-03-27T15:27:22-08:00
Subject: [ruby-talk:02200] Re: parse bug in 1.5


On 26 Mar 2000, Yukihiro Matsumoto wrote:
> 
> |Ruby 1.5 seems to have a problem when parsing methods called
> |with a {...} block if there is space before the opening paren.
> 
> It's not a bug.  It is a bad feature which I'm thinking about
> improvement, and not yet come to conclusion. ;-)
> 
> In 1.4.x, identifiers followed by parenthesises is considered as
> method invocation.  In 1.5.x, if whitespaces comes between identifiers
> and parenthesises, parenthesises are considered as expression
> grouping, to enable:
> 
>   point.move (1+3)*2, 5

This slipperly path looks like one followed by a certain other language.
The fact that ruby has variadic functions and optional parens causes some
unpleasant ambiguities, but I'd rather ruby raise a SyntaxError when it
doesn't know what you mean, rather than "cleverly" trying to figure it out.
Now *I* have to figure out what ruby is going to figure out based on what it
thinks I'm thinking... I just wanna write code, not play mind games with a
compiler!

For me at least, ruby's syntax is hovering near the edge of "too complicated".
Please don't push it over :)