Re: [GLISS] why the hell all this fuss

[Han-Wen Nienhuys]

On Fri, Sep 7, 2012 at 4:42 AM, David Kastrup <address@hidden> wrote:
>> There's one thing worth clarifying: when i say "syntax changes", i
>> mean "changes in how user input looks like".  So a renaming of a
>> command is a syntax change to me (despite the fact that no grammar
>> rules change).
>> That's probably confusing - what word should i use when i mean
>> "changes in how user input looks like"?
>
> No idea.  What we have under the umbrella of "syntax discussion"
> contains three things: lexical units, grammar and vocabulary, mostly
> implemented in lexer.ll, parser.yy, and *.ly respectively.  In order to
> keep syntax predictable, we want to be able to solve most problems just
> by extending the vocabulary.  That means that lexical units and grammar
> should be as generic, powerful, and simple as possible.  Specialized
> lexical modes take power from the vocabulary.  We want to avoid them as
> much as possible given our historic constraints.

I completely agree with this. I have been giving some people a hard
time in this discussion, but that is primarily for wanting to mess
with either lexer.ll or parser.yy. As long as you don't that, I will
not object fiercely to what syntax proposal anyone comes up with.

-- 
Han-Wen Nienhuys - address@hidden - http://www.xs4all.nl/~hanwen