From owner-freebsd-current  Fri Jan 29 01:06:14 1999
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From: Sheldon Hearn <axl@iafrica.com>
To: Poul-Henning Kamp <phk@critter.freebsd.dk>
cc: Mikhail Teterin <mi@kot.ne.mediaone.net>, current@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject: Re: btokup().. patch to STYLE(9) (fwd) 
In-reply-to: Your message of "Fri, 29 Jan 1999 09:53:08 +0100."
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Date: Fri, 29 Jan 1999 11:02:12 +0200
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On Fri, 29 Jan 1999 09:53:08 +0100, Poul-Henning Kamp wrote:

> The parans have the same function as commas in most latin alphabet
> based languages: to convey structure.  

I think you've picked the wrong analogy. The rules of the language
dictate certain cases in which commas are required. Extraneous use of
commas decreases readability.

> The fact that vi(1) has this neat '%' feature makes complex
> expressions with a couple of extra parens much easier to dissect
> than if there are no parens even if they are strictly speaking not
> needed for correct compilation of the expression in the first
> place.
> 
> I hope you didn't mind the commas I left out of the previous sentence,
> they're strictly speaking not needed for understanding that sentence.

I didn't have a problem reading the sentence, even though you left out
required commas. The only thing that caused a problem was your use of
split infinitive. ;-)

When it comes to code, do you not agree that the trained eye knows which
operators to seek to first in an expression? I can't think of an analogy
in the English language, since one doesn't "seek to" commas, one simply
reads from left to right.

Ciao,
Sheldon.

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