From: Chris Lattner <clattner@apple.com>
Subject: Re: [swift-evolution] Proposal to remove semicolons
Date: 14 December 2015 at 20:01:00 GMT+1
To: Colin Cornaby <colin.cornaby@mac.com>
Cc: swift-evolution@swift.org, joao3001@hotmail.com
There are two different topics here, and I’d suggest exploring them separately.
- The semicolon within a line is a expressivity feature.
Yes, and it’s also useful for shell one-liners like "swift <(echo ‘some; swift; statements’)” (is there an option I’m missing to avoid the shell trick?). I am against removing them.
semicolon within a line is a expressivity feature.
I don't care if they're invalid as a terminator for lines with *single*
statements. It would feel annoyingly restrictive to program in a language
where you can never use two statements on the same line. Even Python allows
that!
···
On Mon, Dec 14, 2015 at 12:57 PM, Sune Foldager via swift-evolution < swift-evolution@swift.org> wrote:
*From: *Chris Lattner <clattner@apple.com>
*Subject: **Re: [swift-evolution] Proposal to remove semicolons*
*Date: *14 December 2015 at 20:01:00 GMT+1
*To: *Colin Cornaby <colin.cornaby@mac.com>
*Cc: *swift-evolution@swift.org, joao3001@hotmail.com
There are two different topics here, and I’d suggest exploring them
separately.
- The semicolon within a line is a expressivity feature.
Yes, and it’s also useful for shell one-liners like "swift <(echo ‘some;
swift; statements’)” (is there an option I’m missing to avoid the shell
trick?). I am against removing them.
Semicolons can be used poorly, for example, terminating lines due to C-style coding habits. Semicolons can be used well, for example, grouping related tasks together, such as combining alloc with its defer{free} counterpart. The former can be caught with de-linting. The latter offers a valuable tool.
Poor style we will always have. Removing single-line statement grouping offers no measurable gain at a real cost.
-- Erica
···
On Dec 14, 2015, at 2:21 PM, Charles Constant via swift-evolution <swift-evolution@swift.org> wrote:
> semicolon within a line is a expressivity feature.
I don't care if they're invalid as a terminator for lines with *single* statements. It would feel annoyingly restrictive to program in a language where you can never use two statements on the same line. Even Python allows that!
On Mon, Dec 14, 2015 at 12:57 PM, Sune Foldager via swift-evolution <swift-evolution@swift.org <mailto:swift-evolution@swift.org>> wrote:
From: Chris Lattner <clattner@apple.com <mailto:clattner@apple.com>>
Subject: Re: [swift-evolution] Proposal to remove semicolons
Date: 14 December 2015 at 20:01:00 GMT+1
To: Colin Cornaby <colin.cornaby@mac.com <mailto:colin.cornaby@mac.com>>
Cc: swift-evolution@swift.org <mailto:swift-evolution@swift.org>, joao3001@hotmail.com <mailto:joao3001@hotmail.com>
There are two different topics here, and I’d suggest exploring them separately.
- The semicolon within a line is a expressivity feature.
Yes, and it’s also useful for shell one-liners like "swift <(echo ‘some; swift; statements’)” (is there an option I’m missing to avoid the shell trick?). I am against removing them.
The author of the proposal explicitly states that the proposal is about
semicolons *at the end of the line*.
Any discussion about semicolons in other locations is therefor likely
unnecessary.
···
On Mon, Dec 14, 2015 at 11:34 PM, Erica Sadun via swift-evolution < swift-evolution@swift.org> wrote:
I would be against removing semi-colons.
Semicolons can be used poorly, for example, terminating lines due to
C-style coding habits. Semicolons can be used well, for example, grouping
related tasks together, such as combining alloc with its defer{free}
counterpart. The former can be caught with de-linting. The latter offers a
valuable tool.
Poor style we will always have. Removing single-line statement grouping
offers no measurable gain at a real cost.
-- Erica
On Dec 14, 2015, at 2:21 PM, Charles Constant via swift-evolution < > swift-evolution@swift.org> wrote:
> semicolon within a line is a expressivity feature.
I don't care if they're invalid as a terminator for lines with *single*
statements. It would feel annoyingly restrictive to program in a language
where you can never use two statements on the same line. Even Python allows
that!
On Mon, Dec 14, 2015 at 12:57 PM, Sune Foldager via swift-evolution < > swift-evolution@swift.org> wrote:
*From: *Chris Lattner <clattner@apple.com>
*Subject: **Re: [swift-evolution] Proposal to remove semicolons*
*Date: *14 December 2015 at 20:01:00 GMT+1
*To: *Colin Cornaby <colin.cornaby@mac.com>
*Cc: *swift-evolution@swift.org, joao3001@hotmail.com
There are two different topics here, and I’d suggest exploring them
separately.
- The semicolon within a line is a expressivity feature.
Yes, and it’s also useful for shell one-liners like "swift <(echo ‘some;
swift; statements’)” (is there an option I’m missing to avoid the shell
trick?). I am against removing them.