Path: csiph.com!v102.xanadu-bbs.net!xanadu-bbs.net!feeder.erje.net!eu.feeder.erje.net!weretis.net!feeder4.news.weretis.net!feeder2.ecngs.de!ecngs!feeder.ecngs.de!Xl.tags.giganews.com!border1.nntp.ams.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!local2.nntp.ams.giganews.com!nntp.bt.com!news.bt.com.POSTED!not-for-mail NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 04 May 2014 04:57:35 -0500 From: "Chris Uppal" Newsgroups: comp.lang.java.programmer References: <1qwlhphwzsn5o.19fl7m2msrabe.dlg@40tude.net> Subject: Re: verifying precedence Date: Sun, 4 May 2014 10:53:30 +0100 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.5512 X-RFC2646: Format=Flowed; Response X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.5512 Message-ID: <0IOdnRusKIWSkvvOnZ2dnUVZ8v-dnZ2d@bt.com> Lines: 22 X-Usenet-Provider: http://www.giganews.com X-AuthenticatedUsername: NoAuthUser X-Trace: sv3-irWZbNewRc7N4jnA6t1gfRXyhszaT/RQzCBkrO8kAdQuj9cpJoSS9gvcAYebo2Sp9YUTFjpwwNU+AfJ!1g+96l/rlBvnh30g0kNTqmHqHVsHOR0Zl7je40ppgqlMQ/ZxM4gxIxnlxCt1qhlOnZi2y6QH X-Complaints-To: abuse@btinternet.com X-DMCA-Complaints-To: abuse@btinternet.com X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Please be sure to forward a copy of ALL headers X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Otherwise we will be unable to process your complaint properly X-Postfilter: 1.3.40 X-Original-Bytes: 2316 Xref: csiph.com comp.lang.java.programmer:28360 Joshua Cranmer ?? wrote: > It's like that with operator precedence: sure, there may not be all that > much to learn/memorize, but if you never use it, it's going to leave > your head as quickly as it came in. One difference here is that, in a natural language, unused forms die out or acquire new meanings. In a programming language (with current tech, anyway ;-) that doesn't happen. So someone using an obscure form doesn't get a "huh?" from the compiler as would happen with real speech. The compiler is quite happy -- /it/ is an expert in the language -- but the code may still not be fit for purpose. Hence the /recommendation/ to use brackets. It could be seen as dumbing down, it could be seen as "common sense". Another way of seeing it is as retroactively "fixing" a discovered flaw in the design of the language -- that it has too many precedence levels (even if they aren't scambled). -- chris