Path: csiph.com!weretis.net!feeder6.news.weretis.net!news.misty.com!news.iecc.com!.POSTED.news.iecc.com!nerds-end From: gah4 Newsgroups: comp.compilers Subject: Re: What attributes of a programming language simplify its use? Date: Sat, 3 Dec 2022 17:15:55 -0800 (PST) Organization: Compilers Central Sender: news@iecc.com Approved: comp.compilers@iecc.com Message-ID: <22-12-006@comp.compilers> References: <22-12-001@comp.compilers> <22-12-005@comp.compilers> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Injection-Info: gal.iecc.com; posting-host="news.iecc.com:2001:470:1f07:1126:0:676f:7373:6970"; logging-data="82631"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@iecc.com" Keywords: syntax Posted-Date: 03 Dec 2022 23:00:17 EST X-submission-address: compilers@iecc.com X-moderator-address: compilers-request@iecc.com X-FAQ-and-archives: http://compilers.iecc.com In-Reply-To: <22-12-005@comp.compilers> Xref: csiph.com comp.compilers:3253 On Saturday, December 3, 2022 at 4:27:51 PM UTC-8, christoph...@compiler-resources.com wrote: > The discussion on reserved words versus keywords reminds me of > decisions we made while building Yacc++. It is worth noting that we > (both of its developers) worked at Pr1me computer where PL/I dialects > were the key programming language used in build both the OS and the > compilers, so we were likely highly influenced by that. This is reminding me of some cases in TeX where optional keywords can arise in unexpected places. There is TeX glue that allows: \hskip 1cm or \hskip 1cm plus 1cm In normal use, you mix TeX commands and text to be formatted. If a macro expands to \hskip 1cm and is followed by text starting with plus you get a surprising error message. I believe that plus is only a "reserved word" in that specific context. And a project I was working on some years ago, just happened to run into that case, however unlikely that might be.