Re: [TCLCORE] TIP #292: Allow Unquoted Strings in Expressions

[Donal K. F. <don...@ma...>]

Will Duquette wrote:
> Alternatively, if one used ":=" as the assignment operator for
> TIP 282 there'd be no active harm in using the enhanced syntax
> in "if" and "while".  You *could* write "if {a := $b}" if you
> really wanted to, but you'd be much less likely to do it
> accidentally.

I agree with and strongly support this suggestion. Many years of
experience with C and Java (learning, using, and teaching) tells me that
the "BCPL mistake"[*] is a horrible thing that always leads to trouble.
If we ensure that "=" is not legal, it forces people to choose between
definitely equality (==) and definitely assignment (:=). I've done this
in the past in other languages, and it makes for fewer user errors.

Donal.
[* Many people think this is a problem that came about in the C language
    but it really happened in C's grandparent. Or maybe it was in CPL,
    the parent language of BCPL, but I can't find any examples of that
    online in a quick and not-very-thorough search. ]