From: drew@... (Andrew D. McDowell)
Date: 2000-11-30T15:10:05+09:00
Subject: [ruby-talk:6666] Suggestion for addition to Begin/End syntax

Hi all.
I'm very new to Ruby so this might be a bit of a shot in the dark, 
but I'd like to suggest a minor change in the block 'end' syntax
that may help readability.
It's not a new idea, but it's something that I found helpfull
when reading Dylan code:

When the 'end' statement is used to close a code block, allow an
optional word or two of description.
They can be ignored by the interpreter, but it'd be usefull for 
debugging for them to be matched. 

Basicaly, any of the following would be acceptable:

def foo()
  print "Foo!\n"
end 

 -or-

def foo()
  print "Foo!\n"
end def 

 -or-

def foo()
  print "Foo!\n"
end foo 

 -or-

def foo()
  print "Foo!\n"
end def foo

  ---

An example class (from samples/list.rb) could become:
class MyList
  def add_to_list(obj)
    elt = MyElem.new(obj)
    if @head
      @tail.succ = elt
    else
      @head = elt
    end if
    @tail = elt
  end add_to_list

  def each
    elt = @head
    while elt
      yield elt
      elt = elt.succ
    end while
  end each

  def to_s
    str = "<MyList:\n";
    for elt in self
      str += elt.data.to_s + "\n"
    end for
    str += ">"
    str
  end to_s
end class MyList


Since the end modifier(?) is optional it won't break any previous work but I
think it'd significantly increase readability for larger classes.

Just an idea..

-Drew