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Posted by tony on 12/23/05 10:59
Jerry Stuckle wrote:
> tony@marston-home.demon.co.uk wrote:
> >>>What I object to is being told that I MUST use one case or the other just to be
> >>>*consistent* with everyone else, especially when I disagree with their
> >>>reason for choosing one case over the other in the first place.
> >
> >>The majority of programmers disagree with you on this. Consistency
> >>and conventions are preferred when working on a particular project or
> >>platform -- it cuts down on errors and allows one to convey greater
> >>meaning.
> >
> > I disagree. The majority of programmers that I have worked with on
> > case-insensitive languages do NOT like being told that case is suddenly
> > important, that you must use one in preference to the other. It is like
> > saying that although the language allows you to do something either
> > *this* way or *that* way from now on everybody MUST do it *that* way
> > for no other reason than to be consistent.
> >
>
> He didn't say "The majority of programmers that you have worked with on
> > case-insensitive languages".
>
> He said "The majority of programmers" - a much larger group. And I have
> to agree with him.
>
> I've also taught C, C++ and Java to COBOL programmers. Sure, they had
> trouble getting used to the case sensitivity. But most got used to it.
> Only those who refused to change didn't.
There is a big difference between *allowing* the programmer to choose
which case to use, and *forcing* the programmer to use a particular
case.
What I find annoying is the potential for case-sensitive languages to
allow the same variable or function name to exist AND BE DIFFERENT
ENTITIES. If the language could automatically correct what I typed in
to be in the same case (or mixture of case when camelcaps are used) as
the entity I was referring to I would have less reason to object. But
this is only possible with statically typed languages where everything
has to be declared up front. That doesn't work with dynamically typed
languages, therefore introducing case-sensitivity creates more problems
than it causes and should be avoided.
> But then if they had their way we'd probably still be programming with
> switches on the front panel.
At least the switches weren't case sensitive.
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