3 ms·
back in time, there was several schools for language syntax design for composite statements: 1. "Open" statements (Pascal): IF x THEN s1 ELSE s2;
by nivertech 16y ago
back in time, there was several schools for language syntax design for composite statements:
1. "Open" statements (Pascal):
IF x
THEN s1
ELSE s2;
IF x
THEN
BEGIN
s1;
s2
END
ELSE
BEGIN
s3;
s4
END
WHILE c DO s;
WHILE c DO
BEGIN
s1;
s2
END
The problem with this design was need to use blocks (BEGIN ... END) and complex rules in case of nesting.
2. "Closed" statements (Algol 68)
IF x
THEN
s1;
s2
ELSE
s3;
s4
FI // END IF
WHILE c DO
s1;
s2
OD // END WHILE
You can see new kind of parenthesis IF-FI, DO-OD, etc.
I more like "closed" syntax. But C syntax with it's brackets blocks "{...}" instead of "BEGIN...END" made this less an issue.