[Gretl-devel] Proposal for a syntax change

[Sven Schreiber]

Am 28.05.2008 17:01, Allin Cottrell schrieb:
> Me, agreeing with Jack:
> 
>>> Since we already have some backward-incompatible changes this 
>>> time, I'm inclined to agree the time is right for
>>>
>>> OR:  "|" -> "||"
>>> AND: "&" -> "&&"
>>>
>>> If we do this I'll make an effort to provide what Sven very 
>>> reasonably requested some time back, namely good error 
>>> messages...
> 
> Sven:
> 
>> I believe that what I suggested was to have a warning period 
>> before the change is actually introduced. In this case it would 
>> mean to get the warnings into 1.7.5, and then some months later 
>> (1.7.6?) make the actual syntax change.
> 
> In general that is good procedure, I agree.  On the other hand, in 
> this case the "||" and "&&" forms for OR and AND (and only those) 
> have been in the manual for over a year, and none of the sample 
> scripts packaged with gretl use the old forms.

Has it been a year already? Time goes by fast...

I'm not really opposed to this change, all I'm saying is that at some 
point gretl's syntax needs to stabilize if you want gretl scripting to 
become widespread. Or can you imagine such syntax changes in Matlab? But 
since matrix manipulation in gretl is still fairly new, I guess I agree 
that ongoing development is still more important than user-land stability.

So -- are there any other changes that are planned for after 1.7.5, such 
that warnings should be introduced now?

-sven