Feature request: one-statement functions without brackets

[Jari-Matti Mäkelä]

David B. Held wrote:
> So while languages built
> around "religious principles" (everything is an Object, everything is
> message-passing, everything is a function, etc.) may be elegant, they
> are often not entirely practical.

I think you are underestimating the importance of language constructs
with sound mathematical backing.

> Somewhere in between Haskell and C is a set of compromises that result
> in an elegant type system that recognizes that memory is not infinite
> and processors take real clock cycles to get things done.  While D does
> not necessarily position itself ideally within this space, I think it
> offers some compelling features in a unique combination that is fairly
> rare in many of the newer languages.

The languages I listed in the previous post have a strong community
behind them (well, except Spec# perhaps) and seem to be suitable for
real world applications. In addition, they are very similar to D or what
D seems to be becoming. The fact that most of them run on top of a VM
doesn't make them inferior as a language.

> Unfortunately, there is not enough science to design a language from
> start to finish with every feature you might want to add.

> The more you expose the rough edges of the language with practical
> programs, the more motivation will exist to recast those features in a
> more refined mold.

Learning from practical problems is just one way to see things.
I know Walter has been in contact with the C++ world, but D has also
embraced the functional paradigm quite much. Knowledge of functional
languages has existed for over 50 years. I'm sure they have made
practical points too, not only academic daydreaming.