On Mon, 2006-03-06 at 11:25 -0800, Shannon -jj Behrens wrote: . . .
I find "ctx |> currTok |> tokenType" to be more readable than "tokenType $ currTok $ ctx" because you're not reading the code in reverse. That's my primary complaint with "." and "$". That's especially the case when I'm spreading the code over multiple lines:
(Just my $0.02 worth; no flames please :-) I notice that all but the last of your four functions read like commands in English. It seems natural to write a sequence of commands left-to-right in the order they are to be performed, so "|>" seem natural and "$" and "." seem backward. However, if the chain "f $ g $ h x" is read something like "the result of applying f to the result of applying g to the result of applying h to x" then the usual order seems more natural. And my preferences differ from Udo's -- I would not like to see the order of args to "." and "$" reversed *unless* the arg was written to the left of the chain, ala "x h $ g $ f", as is done by some algebraists. It does seem that the whole controversy boils down to how the writer thinks of the chain -- as a sequence of actions or as the evolution of a value. Neither one is "the One True View"; they're just different. -- Bill Wood