"sins" (aka, acknowledged language problems)

[François Pinard]

neelk at brick.cswv.com (Neel Krishnaswami) writes:

> As a general rule, syntax is a bad thing, to be avoided whenever
> possible.  Calls for additional syntax are typically a sign that
> one of the basic operations of the semantics needs generalization.

I might not go that far.  Features come through syntax or libraries:
Perl or LISP, to name some extremes.  A good thing which often comes with
syntax is that, when used intelligently, it forces some redundancy in the
language which a compiler can later check.  Programmers might grumble and
moan somewhat, but they win in the long run.  When everything generalizes,
the compiler stops being our friend, at some point.

-- 
François Pinard   http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/~pinard