dropping parentheses on template instantiation

[Alexander Pánek]

Andrei Alexandrescu wrote:
> I just realized something different. After making an informal review of 
> some code, I saw that a large percentage of template instantiations only 
> need ONE argument.
> 
> This makes me think, with the old "!" notation, parentheses could be 
> dropped entirely without prejudice:
> 
> auto covariance = Matrix!real(n, n);
> auto normalized = SparseVector!double(n);
> 
> and so on.
> 
> To the unbridled joy of the enemies of the Sad Pirate, the dot won't 
> work for template instantiation because without the parentheses it DOES 
> engender ambiguity.
> 
> Now say we take the following route:
> 
> 1) We find something different from shouting
> 
> 2) We drop the parentheses for 1 argument
> 
> That sounds like a possible winner. In this case the "#" becomes 
> considerably more attractive, in fact very attractive exactly because it 
> looks unlike any letter:
> 
> auto covariance = Matrix#real(n, n);
> auto normalized = SparseVector#double(n);

Doesn’t look bad. What about templates with more than one argument or 
even value arguments? How would those look?

> P.S. The Sad Pirate is the emoticon
> 
> .(
> 
> It doesn't have an eye and is sad, too.

I see .() as one-eyed monkey. :|