phobos / tango / ares

[Frits van Bommel]

Bill Baxter wrote:
> Is there any reason not to make the format item's index also optional? 
> So that
>    Formatter("{} {} {}", a, b, c);
> can be used?  I mean making it more like %s?
> 
> The meaning would just be "use the index (1+ the last one that 
> appeared)" or 0 if it's the first to appear.
> 
> And then if you go there, it might be nice to have a way to say "same as 
> the last item" or "last item +/- some index".  Maybe use +/- numbers.  So
>    Formatter("{1} {+0} {-1}",a,b);
> would be equal to
>    Formatter("{1} {1} {0}",a,b);
> I can't really think of when I'd use that though.  The {} I'd use for 
> sure though.
> 
> Anyway, the positional references are great, and really a must have for 
> any serious I18N usage, but in the original language the app is written 
> in, things tend to appear in the order of the arguments.

An argument against that would be: Don't you think it'd be easier on the 
translators if they could just pick the argument number out of the 
untranslated string without having to keep a running count of which 
argument they're at?


I'd very much like the "{} {} {}" syntax though, especially for anything 
quick-and-dirty.
The "relative" argument numbers I don't see much use for either.