Quinn Dunkan wrote:
> On 26 Mar 2000, Yukihiro Matsumoto wrote:
> >
> > |Ruby 1.5 seems to have a problem when parsing methods called
> > |with a {...} block if there is space before the opening paren.
> >
> > It's not a bug.  It is a bad feature which I'm thinking about
> > improvement, and not yet come to conclusion. ;-)
> >
> > In 1.4.x, identifiers followed by parenthesises is considered as
> > method invocation.  In 1.5.x, if whitespaces comes between identifiers
> > and parenthesises, parenthesises are considered as expression
> > grouping, to enable:
> >
> >   point.move (1+3)*2, 5
>
> This slipperly path looks like one followed by a certain other language.

Hmm, must be the overly context-dependent one.

> The fact that ruby has variadic functions and optional parens causes some
> unpleasant ambiguities, but I'd rather ruby raise a SyntaxError when it
> doesn't know what you mean, rather than "cleverly" trying to figure it
out.

Good diagnosis. I also want to vote for something like this behavior.  I
would also like the error message to mention the 2 (or 3) possibilities it
was trying to distinguish among rather than just giving a parse error.

(I would also vote for doing away with optional parens, although this may
be unpopular with many people or it may cause backwards compatibility
problems. I prefer this option on the principle of least surprise grounds.)

> Now *I* have to figure out what ruby is going to figure out based on what
 it
> thinks I'm thinking... I just wanna write code, not play mind games with
a
> compiler!

Well put.

I think this sort of thing somehow goes against the spirit of OO
programming in a way that I can't think how to succinctly specify at the
moment.

> For me at least, ruby's syntax is hovering near the edge of "too
complicated".
> Please don't push it over :)

For me too, at least in this area. I think this is where Larry ran into the
 design Wall.

I think Ruby syntax should strive to be "intuitively obvious" in the sense
that it is doesn't readily invite mistakes and misinterpretation--even if
that means having to write a few more characters.

Conrad Schneiker
(This note is unofficial and subject to improvement without notice.)