Case Range Statement ..

[Andrei Alexandrescu]

Bill Baxter wrote:
> I really wish we would just go with two-dots for exclusive, three-dots
> for inclusive, and make that work consistently everywhere.
> 
> The "too similar to see the difference" argument just doesn't hold
> weight with me.  Unless you're programming in a proportional-width
> font the difference is pretty obvious.  

That is troublesome because it introduces very weird semantics driven by
counting dots and inserting whitespace. Consider:

int wyda;

void main()
{
     int wyda;
     foreach (i; 0...wyda)
     {
         ....
     }
}

Now there are several problems with this. All of the following compile:

0.....wyda
0....wyda
0... .wyda
0. .. .wyda
0.... wyda
0. ...wyda
0. ....wyda
0.. .wyda

and many others too. Using "..." as a separator in addition to a
trailing symbol is bound to be a complete disaster.

> Or define some other char
> sequence to mean inclusive range.  Like  a ..|b  or a..:b or a..^b,
> etc.

That is more sensible. But as far as switch is concerned, I'm thoroughly
content with what we have now, modulo the 256 limit.


Andrei