Posted by Tony Marston on 07/31/06 10:41

"Gertjan Klein" <gklein@xs4all.nl> wrote in message
news:7narc2phl3sk1qteoad01qbj52jd4b8504@4ax.com...
> Shelly wrote:
>
>>"Gertjan Klein" <gklein@xs4all.nl> wrote in message
>>news:5anmc2d5a53bmlll7ujia8sbu59vh2dr4t@4ax.com...
>>>
>>> No, it does not. What you have described are conventions used in the
>>> case of symbols to make their "type" (constant, variable, function,
>>> whatever) clear. These conventions are useful for languages that have no
>>> other means to distinguish between these types. [...]
>>
>>I **KNOW** they are only conventions, and they can be used by sloppy
>>programmers in the wrong manner, but they are conventions that are
>>universally followed by all professional programmers. Therein lies its
>>usefulness.
>
> Again, you seem to confuse programming conventions with case
> sensitivity. They are not the same thing. As I stated above, I have no
> issues with conventions that assign meaning to the case used (in
> languages that need them -- not all do). I would not mind following
> those conventions if working on a project where they are used.
>
> I don't have big issues with case sensitive languages, either -- I've
> worked with both case-sensitive and case-insensitive languages, and I
> rarely find case-sensitivity the biggest problem with a language. I do,
> however, agree with Tony (albeit without his emotions on the subject)
> that the benefits of case-sensitivity are small, if they exist at all,
> and don't outweigh the potential disadvantages.
>
> Many posters in this thread seem to forget that all this is a matter of
> personal preference. The arguments used in this thread as to why someone
> arrives at a certain preference are often attacked with an emotional
> ferociousness [1] that is unbecoming of a professional programmer.
>
> Gertjan.
>
> [1] This is not directed at you, personally.

That is my point entirely. Case sensitivity was introduced as a programmer
convention and not a language requirement, and a certain group of people are
trying to enforce their conventions into all languages just because it is
what they are used to therefore it must be *the standard*. They fail to
recognise the fact that the potential problems that case sensitivity could
cause outweigh the non-existent benefits.

--
Tony Marston
http://www.tonymarston.net
http://www.radicore.org

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