From: cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net   
      
   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.   
      
   	- Dan C.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)