2 ms·
> The problem? Many of the programming ligatures shown above are easily confused with existing Unicode symbols. How so? It's either a ligature or a syntax erro
by alpaca128 3y ago
> The problem? Many of the programming ligatures shown above are easily confused with existing Unicode symbols.
How so? It's either a ligature or a syntax error: weird unicode symbols can't be valid operators and operator ligatures cannot be valid identifiers. The exception would be string literals, though that situation would be quite rare - probably less common than ambiguity due to different but similar-looking unicode characters. Though I agree it mostly makes sense in one's own editor, not when sharing the code.
Meanwhile people don't mind at all that their code may contain invisible characters with variable length that can make cursor movement less predictable and cause syntax errors - tabs.
- chrisweekly 3y agoI agree the "confused w Unicode symbols" arg is pretty weak. As for "people don't mind [tabs] at all", some people mind very much and consider them pollution. If you mean _some_ people don't mind tabs, ie you're highlighting that tabs vs spaces is a bigger deal than ligatures, I concur. The logical reason to prefer spaces is that the choice is not "spaces vs tabs", it's "spaces vs (tabs and spaces)", and that mix of (tabs and spaces) is highly problematic.
- alpaca128 3y ago> If you mean _some_ people don't mind tabs, ie you're highlighting that tabs vs spaces is a bigger deal than ligatures, I concur. Yes, contrary to spaces/tabs ligatures only affect how it is displayed on screen, letting everyone choose how they want it without any drawback or inconsistency. Which is why I find the other argument in the link a bit unconvincing too - most code isn't shared in static screenshots, though I'll agree when it comes to books.