On Mon, 23 Jun 2008 13:18:11 +0200 Hans-Christoph Steiner hans@eds.org wrote:
This compactness only really helps speed up the typing of code. It
hinders the reading of code and the learning of code. Plus it means
that us mere mortals, who cannot remember what "c" in [tabread4c~]
means, it means we have to constantly ride the reference pages rather
than just writing code.Trading all this for typing a few less keystrokes seems to me a very
bad deal. Apparently, people who use Smalltalk, Java, Python, Ruby,
Obj-C and even sometimes C++ seem to agree.
Can't disagree with any of that. You're absolutely right.
I have had rather a special case interest in compact code - writing the sound design book. Many diagrams would have been impossible to typeset or fit onto a page if Pd used long object names.
You might think "Ah heck, what difference a few characters makes?!" But when you multiply that by 20, 30, 40 objects in a patch the real-estate issues get quite tough. I've spent hours refactoring and shuffling patches about to make them presentable.