[erlang-questions] Re: Special syntax for dictionaries

[Hynek Vychodil]

On Wed, May 5, 2010 at 2:17 PM, Tim Fletcher <mail@REDACTED> wrote:
>> While your examples might work if the value is a simple constant or
>> variable allowing any legal general expression will cause problems.
>> How would you interpret <{erlang:list_to_integer("123")}> ? Note that
>> white space is usually ignored so making white space significant here
>> would be creating a special case for just this.
>
> You're right, that's definitely not workable.
>
>> This was the main reason that = is used in the record syntax. While ~
>> may look strange using : will cause problems. How about =? Though this
>> may force you to parenthesize some expressions.
>
> I think = is fine aesthetically, but Richard notes in his frames
> proposal that it could also be confused with existing syntax that uses
> =. Adopting the Ruby style "arrows" would be another option:
>
>  <{author=>"Mike", erlang=>list_to_integer("123")}>
>
> Looks clear enough, but might be a bit too verbose for typing out?

Just to be correct it is not Ruby style but Perl style and it was
found brief enough even in Perl sense.

>
> Tim
>
>
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-- 
--Hynek (Pichi) Vychodil

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