4 ms·

I agree that non ASCII identifiers are to be avoided, but they may be some exceptions, I have written code like this (in Go): type Polar struct { R

by 4ad 15y ago

I agree that non ASCII identifiers are to be avoided, but they may be some exceptions, I have written code like this (in Go): type Polar struct { R, θ float }

bwarp 15y ago
I tend to avoid that as inevitably when someone has to use the variable, it's a bugger to work out what to type unless you're a unicode whizz. I'd use "theta" instead.
- jimktrains2 15y ago
  Or you use compose or alt?
- evincarofautumn 15y ago
  Iunno, perhaps editors should just get better about supporting “special” characters. Programming language notation kinda sucks without proper symbols. Every time I type “->” or “<=” I have to sigh a little inside. Do we really need to be able to type code on 50-year-old typewriters? Emacs is alright about it though. There are keybindings for entering Unicode characters by name or number, and for getting information about the character at the cursor. You can also use a TeX-like input mode where “\lambda” is automatically replaced with “λ”. But really, I’d rather we rethink input methods altogether.
Zarathust 15y ago
First thing I think with that is : How the fuck can I make that symbol? I'll load up google, then find unicode charts and locate this. So writing your variable name will take about 15 to 30 minutes. Thanks a lot
- TazeTSchnitzel 15y ago
  On Linux (and there's some similar utility for windows), there's a key sequence to enter arbitrary Unicode code points.
  - pnathan 15y ago
    It's not per se entering the silly thing, it's figuring out which code it is.
- kragen 15y ago
  If the variable name is Chinese, use an appropriate input method. Otherwise, maybe set up your keyboard with a compose key (and lowercase parens) http://canonical.org/~kragen/setting-up-keyboard.html http://canonical.org/~kragen/setting-up-keyboard.html and possibly install a bigger XCompose map so you can type Greek letters conveniently https://github.com/kragen/xcompose https://github.com/kragen/xcompose.
- evincarofautumn 15y ago
  Not disagreeing with the sentiment, but if you’re using Windows, Linux, or OSX, you do have a searchable character map. That fails when you don’t know the name of the character, in which case you can use something like Shapecatcher (http://shapecatcher.com/ http://shapecatcher.com/), but then how do you know whether it’s a Greek theta or a Coptic thethe or a Cherokee na or Cyrillic fita or Latin barred O? Clearly our editing powers need to improve if we’re to feasibly use non–English-alphanumeric variable names.
barrkel 15y ago
Unless you have really, really, really good reasons, prefer radius and theta instead.

by 4ad 15y ago

I agree that non ASCII identifiers are to be avoided, but they may be some exceptions, I have written code like this (in Go): type Polar struct { R, θ float }

bwarp 15y ago

I tend to avoid that as inevitably when someone has to use the variable, it's a bugger to work out what to type unless you're a unicode whizz. I'd use "theta" instead.

jimktrains2 15y ago
Or you use compose or alt?
evincarofautumn 15y ago
Iunno, perhaps editors should just get better about supporting “special” characters. Programming language notation kinda sucks without proper symbols. Every time I type “->” or “<=” I have to sigh a little inside. Do we really need to be able to type code on 50-year-old typewriters? Emacs is alright about it though. There are keybindings for entering Unicode characters by name or number, and for getting information about the character at the cursor. You can also use a TeX-like input mode where “\lambda” is automatically replaced with “λ”. But really, I’d rather we rethink input methods altogether.

Zarathust 15y ago

First thing I think with that is : How the fuck can I make that symbol? I'll load up google, then find unicode charts and locate this. So writing your variable name will take about 15 to 30 minutes. Thanks a lot

TazeTSchnitzel 15y ago
On Linux (and there's some similar utility for windows), there's a key sequence to enter arbitrary Unicode code points.
- pnathan 15y ago
  It's not per se entering the silly thing, it's figuring out which code it is.
kragen 15y ago
If the variable name is Chinese, use an appropriate input method. Otherwise, maybe set up your keyboard with a compose key (and lowercase parens) http://canonical.org/~kragen/setting-up-keyboard.html http://canonical.org/~kragen/setting-up-keyboard.html and possibly install a bigger XCompose map so you can type Greek letters conveniently https://github.com/kragen/xcompose https://github.com/kragen/xcompose.
evincarofautumn 15y ago
Not disagreeing with the sentiment, but if you’re using Windows, Linux, or OSX, you do have a searchable character map. That fails when you don’t know the name of the character, in which case you can use something like Shapecatcher (http://shapecatcher.com/ http://shapecatcher.com/), but then how do you know whether it’s a Greek theta or a Coptic thethe or a Cherokee na or Cyrillic fita or Latin barred O? Clearly our editing powers need to improve if we’re to feasibly use non–English-alphanumeric variable names.

barrkel 15y ago

Unless you have really, really, really good reasons, prefer radius and theta instead.