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Some time ago I even opened a feature request[1] to implement Unicode symbols like in Lean, for example. And to have the Language Server Protocol implementatio

• enriquto 6y ago
  What the world needs is a pull request, not a feature request ;) Especially for the first one. Being able to use greek letters as variable names would be incredible (now that it is possible to do so in Python and in C).
  • dmos62 6y ago
    > Being able to use greek letters as variable names would be incredible I've seen people do that in Haskell, I think. I've no idea why that's desirable. It's difficult to type up. It only adds complexity. Is it to be able to use variable names like they're used in mathematics? That's optimized for easy handwriting, through terseness, but because of just how terse it is it's incompatible with autocomplete, so it actually offers a much worse writability/readability ratio in an editor. Why use a miniature vocabulary of symbols when you can use English? I'd always choose `delta` over `Δ`. Actually, why use greek at all? I realise my insight is a bit condescending. My background is plain programming. I've had to implement some algorithms from papers. I guess I'm venting having to interpret those symbols, where terseness was favored over readability.
    • enriquto 6y ago
      > Is it to be able to use variable names like they're used in mathematics? Yes. That's the main point (in my case). I'm really tired of having variables with ugly names like "alpha" and "beta", when I could have simply α and β, just like they appear in print. > Why use a miniature vocabulary of symbols when you can use English? Because that's the vocabulary which is already used in math, and I do not wont to change mathematics to adapt to the limitations of programming languages. See, I don't coincide at all with your point of view, but allowing greek leters in variable names would not keep you from using your preferred naming conventions. EDIT: it's not really "difficult to type" either. For example, in linux if you add setxkbmap -option caps:ctrl_modifier to you keyboard configuration, then you can type greek leters by preceeding regular keys by CAPS LOCK.
      • leephillips 6y ago
        I’m with you. It’s great the way Julia lets math look like math in code. And if you define a "dead Greek" key using xmodmap, typing the whole greek alphabet is no harder than typing uppercase letters.
    • BlueTemplar 6y ago
      > Where terseness was favored over readability That's like saying that |||| is more readable than 4. Yes, it does take some time to learn the symbols. (I'm not sure what you mean about being incompatible with autocomplete?) > Why use a miniature vocabulary of symbols when you can use English? Why do you assume that English is going to be easier? Heck, even for a native English speaker not familiar with programming, √() is going to be easier to understand than sqrt() ! What would you say if you had to work on a code of Russian origin, would you prefer α or альфа ? > It's difficult to type up. Depends on your keyboard layout... http://norme-azerty.fr http://norme-azerty.fr (Greek letters are accessible from AltGr+G.)