foo!(bar) ==> foo{bar} ==> foo[bar] (just Brackets)

[Don]

Robert Fraser wrote:
> Don wrote:
>> Bruno Medeiros wrote:
>>> Jason House wrote:
>>>> Bruno Medeiros wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Don wrote:
>>>>>> Denis Koroskin wrote:
>>>>>>> On Wed, 08 Oct 2008 18:22:21 +0400, superdan <super at dan.org> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Walter Bright Wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Dee Girl wrote:
>>>>>>>>>> I did not follow this group recent. School started. Sorry! I just
>>>>>>>>>> see now and please add my vote if possible. I start with D recent
>>>>>>>>>> and I remember beginning. foo!(bar) was not pleasant. Like forced
>>>>>>>>>> convention with a bad char. And friends I show code never like 
>>>>>>>>>> it.
>>>>>>>>>> It is first thing they say why they do not like D. For me 
>>>>>>>>>> foo{bar}
>>>>>>>>>> better idea. Thank you, Dee Girl
>>>>>>>>> What do your friends think of { } ?
>>>>>>>> School started. Every one so busy now. But I think does not matter
>>>>>>>> any more ^_^
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I want to make little idea. Sorry if idea mentioned before (I 
>>>>>>>> did not
>>>>>>>> read every thread). I think we can look square brackets []. Let me
>>>>>>>> explain why.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Paren () is over used in C and in D. Any expression can be in 
>>>>>>>> (). And
>>>>>>>> adding () is possible in many cases. But it is not same with []. 
>>>>>>>> For
>>>>>>>> example a:(b) is ambiguous but a:[b] is not. So there are many 
>>>>>>>> signs
>>>>>>>> possible after symbol and before [. They are:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> ~ ! @ # $ % ^ & * - + = | \ / , < . > ? :
>>>>>> Not all of them work. Here's a few examples:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>     enum { d= 3, e = 7 }
>>>>>>     int [] a=[1,2];
>>>>>>     bool c;
>>>>>>     auto k=[e]; // kills =
>>>>>>     a ~= c?[d]:[e]; // kills ?
>>>>>>     int [] f = c?k:[e]; // kills :
>>>>>>     if (f>[e]) {}   // kills <
>>>>>>     if (f<[e]) {}   // kills >
>>>>>>     auto g = (k,[d]); // kills comma
>>>>>>     auto h = k~[d]; // kills ~
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Array ops will kill + - * / & | % ^
>>>>>> Suddenly the list looks pretty short.
>>>>>> !@#$\.
>>>>>
>>>>> Hum, what about brackets without any prefix character at all?
>>>>>
>>>>>    Vector[int, 2] foo;
>>>>>    List[Vector[int, 2]] bar;
>>>>>    int[3] a = [1, 2, 3]; // array literal here
>>>>>    int[int] map;
>>>>>    alias DenseMatrix[num] PulType;
>>>>>    alias SparseRowsMatrix[num, HashSparseVector] PuuType;
>>>>>    alias BiMap[uint, Tuple[uint, uint], BiMapOptions.lhDense] DicType;
>>>>>    int var = a[2]; // array indexing here
>>>>>
>>>>> Hum... doesn't look bad visually. In fact it seems to fit quite nice
>>>>> with how associative arrays, and even normal arrays, are declared. 
>>>>> Hum,
>>>>> yes, I'm personally liking this a lot.
>>>>>
>>>>> But does it have any ambiguities? Hum, can't think of any off-hand. If
>>>>> an identifier appears before a bracket list, it could either be a
>>>>> template instantiation, or an array indexation. But the syntax of both
>>>>> is the same, so it doesn't need to be distinguished in the parser.
>>>>>
>>>>> Waddya think, was this discussed before?
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> It may be easy to parse, but it isn't easy to read.
>>>>
>>>> What is goban[19]?  Is it an array or a template?  I'd hate to be 
>>>> reading
>>>> through somebody else's code and have to decipher what things mean.
>>>
>>> I give the same answer I gave to Bill:
>>>
>>> True, you'd have to follow /goban/ to find out. But that is just a 
>>> hover of the mouse away. :)
>>>
>>>
>>> Just for the record, I'm also not bothered by !(), but if some people 
>>> really find the urge to change it, I'd much rather have brackets than 
>>> the ugly sad pirate. I say ugly because the dot is much more common 
>>> than the '!', and for me it has a more solidified meaning of 
>>> accessing members, so seeing it used as part of the template 
>>> instantiation syntax looks weird.
>>>
>> That's my opinion, too.
>>
>> Using square brackets would certainly fit with Walter's goal of making 
>> templates less threatening for newcomers.
>> It would be pretty cool to teach a newbie:
>>
>> int[] a;
>> int[double] b;  // this is an AA
>> priorityqueue[double] c; // this is a template
> 
> I can't tell if you're being sarcastic here or not...

I would never intentionally use sarcasm on a group containing non-native 
English speakers.
I think there's a genuine similarity between AAs and templates, 
providing a natural teaching progression.