On Thu, Mar 08, 2007 at 12:28:10AM +0900, John Joyce wrote:
> No.
> Programming languages are, like all languages, arbitrary symbolic  
> sets based on some sort of logical meaning.
> In this case, someone else's (els') logic.
> Like human languages, it does little good to complain about idioms or  
> grammar, just use it.
> Life is much easier then. Every programming language has differences,  
> sometimes small subtle ones. The small subtle things are what make C  
> and C++ difficult to debug. This is why we have tools like colored  
> text editors and lexical analyzers and debuggers. Arguably, a  
> computer language should be more like a human language, but that too  
> is a bad idea. Human language is very implicit, contextual, and  
> fuzzy. When you are really dealing with 1s and 0s you can't be so fuzzy.

I mostly agree -- except that complaints about syntax and the like that,
if addressed, would provide some measurable benefit for programmers
without notable detriment are certainly worth discussion.  I just don't
think "elseif" vs. "elsif" meets such criteria for dicussion.

-- 
CCD CopyWrite Chad Perrin [ http://ccd.apotheon.org ]
"The first rule of magic is simple. Don't waste your time waving your
hands and hopping when a rock or a club will do." - McCloctnick the Lucid