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1 point by evanrmurphy 5161 days ago | link | parent

Just experimenting with the alternatives using your example...

1. Original:

  userinfo.user!stations.station!read-list.doc!title
2. With '.' instead of '!' and no substitute for the original '.' :

  (.title ((.read-list ((.stations (userinfo user)) station)) doc))
3. With '|' instead of '.' and '.' instead of '!' :

  userinfo|user.stations|station.read-list|doc.title
#1 actually looks suprisingly readable to me right now. I guess I've grown more accustomed to '!' than I knew. ^_^

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Update: What about '>' ?

  userinfo>user.stations>station.read-list>doc.title


1 point by rocketnia 5161 days ago | link

I've considered > too, but I keep wanting to use < and > in names, like for XML, comparators, and very special-purpose conversions (a->b). Conversions can live without it, but I don't know about comparators and XML.

Another idea is /. Arc uses / in variable names, but I can't help but think that 'w-stdout would be just as iconic as 'w/stdout. There could be some potential. ^_^

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1 point by akkartik 5161 days ago | link

Depending on the font '|' extends too high and low, and seems a bit too heavy a divider.

Also, thaddeus pointed out that lisp readers use || to delineate symbols, so this may be hard to change in arc.

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