Autoit devs: v3 syntax with the benefits of hindsight

[twitchyliquid64]

Hi guys,

I'm interested, with the benefit of several years hindsight, what the developers and other power users think.

What syntax + semantics would you add or remove, and why?

curious,

Twitchyliquid64

Edited June 12, 2012 by twitchyliquid64

[Mat]

Hmmm... Lets see.

They would remove the $ for variable names for a start. They would add tertiary statements... Need I go on?

[Melba23]

Mat,

I think you mean "ternary".

M23

[Mat]

I think you mean "ternary".

So does google and wikipedia.

Just a small slip of the fingers

[jaberwacky]

I don't see a need for EndIf and EndFunc. Why not just End?

Edit: Well, ok, if you're at the end of a large function then yeah it makes sense. Disregard my post.

Edited June 12, 2012 by LaCastiglione

[Valik]

I don't see the need for End/EndIf/et cetera, why not curly braces? I don't see the need for curly braces, why not rely on indentation?

Point taken?

[jaberwacky]

Understood.

[twitchyliquid64]

I've heard some suggestion that Opt() and autoit flags are stupid and should be removed.

www.autoitscript.com/forum/topic/137246-latest-beta/page__st__120

www.autoitscript.com/trac/autoit/wiki/AutoItNotOnToDoList

what's the issue with the flags? are there just too many/too junky?

also i have heard suggestion that the syntax for dll* is less than ideal along with other things.

Take a look at

DllCall() and the unwieldy syntax. Take a

look at how data structures are faked in the

language. Non-trivial GUIs all but require

one or more global variables due to a lack

of user-defined callback parameters (and

arguably a lack of objects to encompass the

whole thing)

in hindsight, what would you do instead?

[Valik]

in hindsight, what would you do instead?

Bring on a new developer. Ask that new developer to change things, fix things and implement new things. Change/fix/implement new things myself.

[twitchyliquid64]

Bring on a new developer. Ask that new developer to change things, fix things and implement new things. Change/fix/implement new things myself.

hmmm interesting. as a developer are you still involved in active implementation of new features?

[Valik]

I write very little code lately.

[FaridAgl]

Vote for removing $ from variables.

[jvanegmond]

Functions as first class citizens.

File based scoping. Local keyword for File scope, Global for Everywhere.

#include at run-time. Or equivalent.

[Mat]

#include at run-time. Or equivalent.

Or have a proper module system.

[jvanegmond]

Or have a proper module system.

What would be the difference? Explain.

[czardas]

As I have become more familiar over time, the things that seem incomprehensible to me generally appear to be Microsoft's doing and not related to AutoIt (although not always). I've learned to live with the inconsistancies to some degree. One thing that bugged me for a long time was binary representation and manipulation. It still does bug me in fact. I'm sure things are very different at the machine code level, but I'm looking at it from the point of view of someone who thinks binary only has two values. If you want to add preceeding zeros why stop at 32 or 64? Why not add an infinite number of preceeding zeros?

Perhaps I'm being too cynical, afterall a bit is a bit and binary is a numeric base.

Edited June 13, 2012 by czardas

[James]

Get rid of Opt, it's a ballache.

[czardas]

I just came across the following interesting quote by Valik: It's not entirely related to my previous rant but is illustrates some of the issues. - mainly the fact that the blueprint is wrong in a number of places to start with. Making changes to AutoIt that will break 90% of scripts is not really going to be very popular.

The entire world is relying on this "wrong" behavior. The electric you are using is provided to you courtesy of a broken modulo operator. The operating system you are using currently is relying on it. If your automobile has an on-board electronics system, chances are, it's relying on the wrong behavior. Get the point; do you really want to suggest we make AutoIt "right" so we can be different than the rest of the world?

I'm a bit on the fence regarding this kind of thing. Copying incorrect models still seems a hard pill to swallow.

Edited June 13, 2012 by czardas

[Valik]

Vote for removing $ from variables.

Why are you voting for a feature that is done and publicly available in alpha form?

[Blue_Drache]

Out of curiosity, why are y'all removing the "$" from variable names?

Edited June 13, 2012 by Blue_Drache