How about "print file=yonder, yo, de, do"

Jeff Petkau jpet at eskimo.com
Sat Sep 2 15:39:41 EDT 2000


One more random stab at a different syntax, just
because this dead horse ain't been flogged enough.

How about this syntax:

    print file=myfile, 1, 2, 3

Advantages:
- print remains a statement, which Guido has deemed important.

- no new keywords.

- no parser ambiguity, since assignment is not legal in an expression;
  it parses just like an argument list.

- it looks exactly like keyword arguments in a function call, so
  it fits in much nicer, and someone seeing it might (correctly!)
  assume they can do the same thing in function calls.

- the concept is extensible to other keywords and other statements,
  wheras >> will always be an out of place hack.

- it doesn't stand out visually. This may be a disadvantage for some.
  But at least it doesn't look like C++.

--Jeff Petkau (jpet at eskimo.com)






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