From: bill.gunshannon@gmail.com   
      
   On 12/1/2025 4:23 PM, Dan Cross wrote:   
   > In article <10gk6e6$1bcst$3@dont-email.me>,   
   > Simon Clubley   wrote:   
   >>> Now this is opinion, and really a poor argument.  While I detest the   
   verbosity   
   >>> in most things, that is my choice, not the problem you claim.   
   >>   
   >> Back on topic, COBOL is very verbose, but I also hate way too concise   
   >> languages where the language designers don't even allow words like   
   >> "function" to be spelt out in full. You read code many more times than   
   >> you write it and having cryptic syntax makes that a lot harder to achieve.   
   >   
   > Excessive verbosity can be a hindrance to readability, but   
   > finding a balance with concision is more art that science.  I   
   > don't feel the need to spell out "function" when there's an   
   > acceptable abbreviation that means the same thing ("fn"/"fun"/   
   > etc).  That said, a lot of early Unix code that omitted vowels   
   > for brevity was utterly abstruse.   
   >   
   >> Something like Ada was designed for readability, and I wish all other   
   >> languages followed that example.   
   >   
   > Unfortunately, what's considered "readable" is both subjective   
   > and depends on the audience.  Personally, I don't find Ada more   
   > readable because they it forces me to write `function` instead   
   > of `fn` or `procedure` instead of `proc`.  If anything, I find   
   > the split between two types of subprograms less readadable, no   
   > matter how it's presented syntacticaly.  Similarly, I don't find   
   > the use of `begin` and `end` keywords more readable than `{` and   
   > `}`, or similar lexical glyphs.  I understand that others feel   
   > differently.   
   >   
   > If anything, I find it less readable since it is less visually   
   > distinct (perhaps, if I my eyesight was even worse than it   
   > already is, I would feel differently).   
   >   
   >> Just waiting for the moment when a newcomer designs a new language which   
   >> has syntax resembling TECO... :-)   
   >   
   > Or APL.   
      
   Nothing wrong with APL, if the task is within the languages domain.   
   But then, I am one of the last advocates for domain specific rather   
   than generic languages.   
      
   bill   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)