More Intuitive Syntax for Manifest (enum) Constants

[Walter Bright]

On 11/22/2025 1:32 AM, Peter C wrote:
> This is a bit off topic of course, but I can easily twist this same argument 
> around for why there should have been a more intuitive syntax for mainfest 
> constants, instead of overloading enum to also mean a non-type definition - i.e. 
> the tool for defining a type should not be the tool for defining a value.

Long ago, I tried my hand at writing a user interface library. I was shocked to 
discover that what was consistent for a computer was very inconsistent to a 
user, and vice versa. (Did you know that the ancient Greek Parthenon does not 
use straight lines, but they look straight? How did the Greeks figure that out?)

D isn't consistent with what would work best for a computer, either, which is 
why it is converted to "intermediate code" by the front end. There are a lot of 
inconsistencies, but they work for humans.

`final` is currently used for statements, classes, and derived functions. Adding 
them for declarations is not confusing for a human, and keeping the number of 
keywords low is good.

I understand you disagree, and that's ok. That's why designing a programming 
language is more of an art than a science.

The `enum E = 24;` syntax looked a bit odd at first, but seems perfectly natural 
to me now.