[eeps] Request for comments on EEP-25 "Unnesting cases"

[Abhay Kumar]

If the goal is to provide a fall-through behavior that's also easy to  
read, then it would make sense to look at some of the other languages  
besides Algol 86: C, C++, Java, PHP, ... (default), Ruby (else). I  
like the idea of a different reserved word (not 'or') being used to  
signify another branching path.

consider:

'case' Expression 'of'
	Pattern ['when' Guard] '->' Expression
    {';' Pattern ['when' Guard] '->' Expression}...
    {';' 'else' 'case' Expression 'of'
		Pattern ['when' Guard] '->' Expression
	   {';' Pattern ['when' Guard] '->' Expression}...}...
'end'


or:


'case' Expression 'of'
	Pattern ['when' Guard] '->' Expression
    {';' Pattern ['when' Guard] '->' Expression}...
    {';' 'default' 'case' Expression 'of'
		Pattern ['when' Guard] '->' Expression
	   {';' Pattern ['when' Guard] '->' Expression}...}...
'end'

I personally like 'else' but that might be my Ruby bias. 'default'  
never makes semantic sense to me when using C based languages but I  
just accepted it as it was. The best word is really 'otherwise' but  
that's too long. 'els' is nice for spacing concerns.

I wonder if the parser should support two 'end' statements as i  
expect that it will be one of the most common mistakes that someone  
will make. Also, will the 'or' 'else' also support a fall-through  
return for the block?

Cheers,

Abhay

On Dec 19, 2008, at 6:37 AM, Camille Troillard wrote:

> Hey everyone,
>
> On Fri, Dec 19, 2008 at 3:28 PM, Vlad Dumitrescu  
> <vladdu55@REDACTED> wrote:
> > I for one find it acceptable. The "; or case" construct is ok -
> > perhaps not extremely elegant, but conveys the meaning
> > very well.
>
> This was the only aspect I was about to comment on too. Maybe "; else
> case" sounds better?
>
> I find this new construct very useful and helps keeping things neat  
> instead of deeply nested.
> However I am also concerned by the "or" keyword.
> This may sound stupid but, on many keyboard the 'R' and the 'F' are  
> very close, making OR and OF even more similar.
>
> I like "; else case", but before reading Vlad's post, I was about  
> to suggest "; other case".
>
>
> Best,
> Cam
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