8 ms·

> Why do so many people kill Smalltalk so fast? Because it doesn't have curly braces. Entirely unfair, but it seems like if you want to sneak in an innovative

> Why do so many people kill Smalltalk so fast? Because it doesn't have curly braces. Entirely unfair, but it seems like if you want to sneak in an innovative language it needs to be a wolf in sheep's clothes. (IE: it need to vaguely resemble C)

Kurtz79 13y ago
I could make an argument for the exact opposite. If a new language has curly braces is instantly reviled and deemed as "not innovative" by part of the community.
- AnimalMuppet 13y ago
  I think both are true, because "the community" is not one thing. It's a bunch of people, each with their own viewpoint. And a bunch of people have strongly-held views (in both directions) on curly braces.
mcv 13y ago
That's one of the big reasons why javascript is so horrible. It is a really nice and innovative language, but it had to be dressed up to resemble C (or Java really).
Dewie 13y ago
Since curly braces are a pain for me to write (on my keyboard), I strongly embrace languages who don't make them part of the important syntax.
- blobfish 13y ago
  Wouldn't it be better to buy a new keyboard and expand the range of languages you can type in comfortably?
  - pdpi 13y ago
    I'm going to hazard a guess that the problem is not the physical keyboard, but rather the OP's use of a non-US keyboard layout. My native portuguese keyboard layout uses AltGr-8 and AltGr-9 for square brackets, and 7/0 for curly braces, and it's incredibly uncomfortable. I eventually changed to using the US International layout (with dead keys) to make it less awkward to write code, to the detriment of writing in portuguese.
    - Dewie 13y ago
      > I'm going to hazard a guess that the problem is not the physical keyboard, but rather the OP's use of a non-US keyboard layout. You're exactly right.
      - blobfish 13y ago
        You could try to map '{' and '}' to some more convenient keys and still keep using your non-standard layout if it works well for other things.
        pdpi 13y ago
        It's not a "non-standard" layout, it's a non-US layout.
bromagosa 13y ago
But we also do have curly braces! For dynamic arrays! ;) { Number. #someSymbol. 5 + 6. [ :anArgument | anArgument doSomething ] value: 'some string goes here'. #(3 'hi'). 1000 factorial }

Kurtz79 13y ago

I could make an argument for the exact opposite. If a new language has curly braces is instantly reviled and deemed as "not innovative" by part of the community.

AnimalMuppet 13y ago
I think both are true, because "the community" is not one thing. It's a bunch of people, each with their own viewpoint. And a bunch of people have strongly-held views (in both directions) on curly braces.

mcv 13y ago

That's one of the big reasons why javascript is so horrible. It is a really nice and innovative language, but it had to be dressed up to resemble C (or Java really).

Dewie 13y ago

Since curly braces are a pain for me to write (on my keyboard), I strongly embrace languages who don't make them part of the important syntax.

blobfish 13y ago
Wouldn't it be better to buy a new keyboard and expand the range of languages you can type in comfortably?
- pdpi 13y ago
  I'm going to hazard a guess that the problem is not the physical keyboard, but rather the OP's use of a non-US keyboard layout. My native portuguese keyboard layout uses AltGr-8 and AltGr-9 for square brackets, and 7/0 for curly braces, and it's incredibly uncomfortable. I eventually changed to using the US International layout (with dead keys) to make it less awkward to write code, to the detriment of writing in portuguese.
  - Dewie 13y ago
    > I'm going to hazard a guess that the problem is not the physical keyboard, but rather the OP's use of a non-US keyboard layout. You're exactly right.
    - blobfish 13y ago
      You could try to map '{' and '}' to some more convenient keys and still keep using your non-standard layout if it works well for other things.
      - pdpi 13y ago
        It's not a "non-standard" layout, it's a non-US layout.

bromagosa 13y ago

But we also do have curly braces! For dynamic arrays! ;) { Number. #someSymbol. 5 + 6. [ :anArgument | anArgument doSomething ] value: 'some string goes here'. #(3 'hi'). 1000 factorial }