Thread Links Date Links
Thread Prev Thread Next Thread Index Date Prev Date Next Date Index

Another query

P1788

I don't recall if this was discussed, but for those who are in favour of interval literals (and thank you, Ned Nedialkov, for your words in support)
    How should decorated interval literals be written?

It needs to be a syntax that is easy to parse at the head of an input stream. Most likely seem:
- Ordered pair in parentheses like ([2, 3], def) or (<22/7+-0.001>, trv)
- A character such as ! used as a connective, like [2, 3]!def or <22/7+-0.001>!trv

I like the second, but think the connective should be language-defined. Of the candidates from the ASCII character set, after excluding those used in almost all languages as arithmetic operators etc., I think those left are
   !@#$%&_~|`
and I suspect every one of them could cause difficulty in some widely used language.

John Pryce