Re: Dot Syntax docs missing?
Re: Dot Syntax docs missing?
- Subject: Re: Dot Syntax docs missing?
- From: Ian Joyner <email@hidden>
- Date: Sun, 20 Jul 2008 11:34:07 +1000
On 19/07/2008, at 11:36 PM, Michael Ash wrote:
On Sat, Jul 19, 2008 at 1:14 AM, Rick Mann <email@hidden>
wrote:
On Jul 18, 2008, at 21:51:57, Jerry Krinock wrote:
setEp1: should work. The colon is significant and is a part of
the method
name.
In fact, I do have the colon in the actual definition. Definitely
something
else is going on, I think.
I would advise you to embrace and learn both the dot syntax and
square
brackets.
Well, I'm forced to use the square brackets for method calls
(excuse me,
"message sends"), and I love square brackets as array index
operators. I
don't think I'll ever embrace them for method dispatch.
The universe of programming languages extends far beyond this little
island of ALGOL-lookalikes. Objective-C messaging syntax is utterly
mundane compared to many common, useful syntaxes used in practical
(but different) languages every day. IMO you do yourself a disservice
if you don't branch out and try some different things once in a while,
and remember that they're just programming languages, and syntax is
just syntax, nothing really all that important.
Except that syntax is the medium to convey meaning, thus to make it
easier for others to understand what a program is about. If it were
not so, we may as well have stuck to programming machine language in
1s and 0s. Thus syntax is important... or at least the manifestation
of that which is important.
I like a Steve Jobs quote from 1996: “Design is a funny word. Some
people think design means how it looks. But of course, if you dig
deeper, it’s really how it works.” Clean syntax reflects clean
functionality. The bracket syntax of Objective-C reflects the fact
that it was a preprocessor rather than compiler. C's syntax reflects
the fact that much unnecessary implementation detail could not be
handled by a 1960s PDP 8 compiler. Of course, C.A.R. Hoare did quip
that ALGOL was an improvement not only on its predecessors, but on
most of its successors as well.
Ian_______________________________________________
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