VB (classic; .NET versions no longer have it) had an "option explicit" where
you had to define each variable explicitly, otherwise by default you created
variables simply by assigning to them.
They did it that way to enable backwards compatibility for those who wanted
the old style. Most people wound up using "option explicit" and it is now
the default (and afaik only, but I don't use vb.net so I cannot say that for
sure) way of doing things.
Somthing like an "option" keyword (which would only be a keyword until the
first executable statement, e.g., would have to be before even imports)
could enable things like "semicolon" or "explicit", or whatever really, and
only affect those who opt in. If no code is ever seen using the option, it
can even be removed. Wouldn't be a bad way to test changes that would impact
the syntax of the language, actually...
On Aug 11, 2011 1:07 AM, "Chris Rebert" <c...@rebertia.com> wrote:
>> On Aug 10, 2011 10:57 PM, "Yingjie Lan" <lany...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>> :And if we require {} then truly free indentation should be OK too! But
>>>
>>> :it wouldn't be Python any more.
>>>
>>> Of course, but not the case with ';'. Currently ';' is optional in
Python,
>>> But '{' is used for dicts. Clearly, ';' and '{' are different in
>>> magnitude.
>>>
>>> So the decision is: shall we change ';' from optional to mandatory
>>> to allow free line splitting?
>
> On Wed, Aug 10, 2011 at 9:51 PM, Michael Trausch <fd0...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Perhaps it could be made an optional thing to enable; for example, some
>> languages by default do dynamic typing, but with an option contained as
the
>> first statement of the file can enforce static typing.
>
> I am intrigued. What languages(s) have the feature you refer to?
>
> Cheers,
> Chris
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