Re: Semicolons (Re: Low-Rent Syntax)

bart@videovax.tv.tek.com (Bart Massey) writes:


>In article <1990Aug12.205529.11691@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us> Stephen D. Clamage <steve@taumet.com> writes:
>> There has been some discussion about *how* to design languages which do
>> not need semicolons to separate or end statements. No one has brought up
>> why you would want to.
>...
>> Finally, beginning programmers are going to make all kinds of errors, for
>> all kinds of reasons. For more-experienced programmers, are semicolon
>> errors a real problem -- as big as other kinds of syntax errors? I'd say
>> no.


My experience in with CLU as an undergraduate was that terminating statements
with a semicolon is a good thing, as it makes it easier for a parser to
detect errors quickly and accurately. My impression was that a syntax error
would cause the parser to trip up somewhere in the middle of the next page :-)
(slightly exaggerated, but the combination of a permissive grammar and a
non-industrial-grade compiler made for difficult detection of errors.)


Peter Desnoyers
--

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