Posted by Andy Jeffries on 05/16/06 00:05

On Mon, 15 May 2006 11:58:50 +0100, Tony Marston wrote:
> But if a language allows the same name to mean different things if
> specified in a different case this could lead to code which is confusing
> and therefore difficult to maintain. It *should* be the primary objective
> of every language to avoid such features instead of deliberately
> implementing them. This is why the GOT verb is frowned upon and excluded
> from many languages, and why the ALTER verb in COBOL is considered an
> absolute no-no.
>
> In the English language a word has only one meaning regardless of case
> (such as 'dog', 'Dog' and 'DOG') so why should computer languages be any
> different?

Ryan's perfectly valid point aside (different capitalisation of Dog
meaning different things), I actually don't disagree with you entirely.
At least not enough to argue about.

However, I do feel any language ought to be consistent, if the variables
are case-sensitive the functions should be too. It makes the language a
lot more predictable in how it will behave.

Cheers,


Andy

--
Andy Jeffries MBCS CITP ZCE | gPHPEdit Lead Developer
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