RArandomstudent·Aug 17, 2017
Yes.
Superficially, `do ... end` blocks look like English, because they are English words. On the other hand, they don't really correspond to any real grammar construct of the English language. They live in the the uncanny valley where you try to read it like English, but you can't actually read it as such. For some reason, the use of keywords like `def`, `defmodule` or `defmacro` doesn't bother me as much. Maybe because they are not block delimiters?
In my opinion, braces, delimiters or parenthesis create less visual noise than endless cascades of `end` keywords:
def f(x) do
...
end
end
end
end
There are other block keywords besides `end`, which serve no purpose other than simplify some keyword list arguments at the cost of higher complexity.
In general there is too much syntax sugar for thi
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ngs that don't really benefit from it.
Parenthesis in function calls are optional in some places but not others, which creates some unnecessary confusion.
The syntax for anonymous functions is
fn arg -> do ... end
The `end` keyword is strange and I keep forgetting it (that's more a problem with me than the syntax, I know).
The language is subtly whitespace sensitive in some places, while being mostly whitespace insensitive.
Macros can't take a variable number of arguments, which leads to the proliferation of Special Forms (it's a kind of macros that is treated as special by the compiler) which could perfectly be macros if it weren't for this limitation.
For a situation where this causes problems and requires some extra weirdness in what should be a simple DSL, look at this Github issue in the new testing library scheduled for inclusion in the standard library: https://github.com/whatyouhide/stream_data/issues/21