Is the world coming to an end?

[Nick Sabalausky]

"Daniel Gibson" <metalcaedes at gmail.com> wrote in message 
news:in8jko$knb$7 at digitalmars.com...
> Am 03.04.2011 03:39, schrieb Walter Bright:
>> On 4/2/2011 4:52 PM, Daniel Gibson wrote:
>>> Am 03.04.2011 01:50, schrieb Walter Bright:
>>>> On 4/2/2011 3:27 PM, ulrik.mikaelsson at gmail.com wrote:
>>>>> As I wrote, I think it's great that 010 != 8 anymore.
>>>>
>>>> 010, etc., will now be errors. They will not be 10 decimal.
>>>>
>>>> Also, the literals 00, 01, ..., 07 will still be accepted without 
>>>> complaint. 08,
>>>> 09, etc. will of course be errors.
>>>
>>> That feels pretty inconsistent.
>>
>> It is inconsistent. One of the interesting things about "good" user 
>> interface
>> design is it is awfully inconsistent.
>>
>> The thing is, I ran into a bunch of D code that used 01, 03, etc. They 
>> weren't
>> octal, and it seemed a pity to break it.
>
> They were octal, it just didn't make a difference. I don't see a reason to 
> use
> them (if not as octals) anyway.
>
> Time will tell but I wouldn't be surprised if sooner or later somebody 
> wonders
> why 00, 01..07 work, but 08 etc don't and complains about weird corner 
> cases ;)
>

Yea, but I bet people would also complain if it were disallowed. "There's no 
ambiguity here! Why's it whining about something that's obviously guaranteed 
to work?!"