arrow syntax unnecessary and the idea that "function" is too long
Kyle Simpson
getify at gmail.com
Sat May 7 16:40:11 PDT 2011
>> Based on what evidence are "we" concluding that the majority of the
>> javascript developers want -> syntax for functions? The fact that
>> coffeescript is the hot buzzword? Was there some developer-community wide
>> voting or poll that I missed? Or is it that a few vocal people on these
>> lists like it, and that's being substituted as what the "majority" is in
>> favor of?
>
> IIRC there were cheers at JSConf this week.
Yeah, I unfortunately wasn't able to attend. I was quite sad about missing
JSConf for the first time.
But, JSConf has just 150-200 JavaScript developers in attendance. While they
are certainly some of the most passionate (and intelligent) developers of
the community, no doubt, they are definitely not a representative sampling
of the overall community. Making language decisions based on the vocal
support of JSConf alone is not sufficient. I was certain there had to be
more behind the claim than just that. So that's what I was asking for.
> But you're looking for something that doesn't exist: a way to make
> scientifically sound decisions about language design.
I am not looking for any such thing. I was looking for more detail behind
Brendan's (and Andrew's) assertions that -> is definitively better because
it's shorter (and for no other stated reason).
> There is *no* way to resolve syntax questions perfectly. We welcome
> community input, all community input.
I don't claim that any such perfect system could be devised. I was merely
responding to Andrew's insinuation that the majority of the community
(including him) had already voiced support for ->. If someone makes an
implication, I think it's fair game on here to ask for the supporting
reasoning.
I think I could easily come up with a dozen examples of patterns in
JavaScript coding which are shorter, but which "most of the community" would
say is *not* more readable. So I take issue with the assertion that
shorter==better unequivocally.
> But we are going to have to make a decision, and it simply won't be
> perfect. We're going to listen to everyone, consider the technical issues,
> and at the end of the day, make the best decision we can with imperfect
> information.
>From the tone of this thread, and from many other recent postings regarding
reactions from JSConf this week, it sounded like all of a sudden we'd gone
from "yeah coffeescript has some interesting short-hand syntax" to "the
community has spoken, and coffeescript will be adopted into ES.Harmony/Next
as-is".
I was, and am now, still wondering how "we" so quickly made the leap from
Brendan's "harmony of my dreams" a couple of months ago, where the idea of #
sounded good, and plausible for inclusion, all the way to Brendan declaring
that it's basically a done deal that we'll be including a variety of
function and other shorthands from coffeescript post haste?
--Kyle
More information about the es-discuss
mailing list