[swift-evolution] multi-line string literals.

[Dave Abrahams]

on Thu Apr 28 2016, Brent Royal-Gordon <swift-evolution at swift.org> wrote:

>     Awesome. Some specific suggestions below, but feel free to iterate in a pull
>     request if you prefer that.
>
> I've adopted these suggestions in some form, though I also ended up rewriting
> the explanation of why the feature was designed as it is and fusing it with
> material from "Alternatives considered".
>
> (Still not sure who I should list as a co-author. I'm currently thinking John,
> Tyler, and maybe Chris? Who's supposed to go there?)

A couple of remarks:

First, this passage is wrong about the reliability of the triple-quote syntax:

>   (like Python's """ strings) which trick some syntax
>   highlighters into working some of the time with some contents, we don't think
>   this occasional, accidental compatibility is a big enough gain to justify
>   changing the design.

I've never seen a syntax highlighter have problems with it, I don't see
how it *could* ever cause a problem, and lastly I think it's both naïve
and presumptuous to call these effects accidental.

Second, this proposal should explain why it's reinventing the wheel
instead of standardizing existing, very successful, prior art.  Answer
the question: “what compelling advantages does this syntax have over
Python's?”

-- 
Dave