[swift-evolution] [Review] SE-0084: Allow trailing commas in parameter lists and tuples

[Krzysztof Siejkowski]

* What is your evaluation of the proposal?
-1

While I appreciate the ease of reordering and commenting out that the proposal brings, I think it hurts readability. Also, it seems to me that keeping the commas in check is a job of a IDE, not language syntax feature. 

The analogy for me is the Lisp parentheses problem. It’s often even more difficult to manage parens while editing and commenting code. Instead of providing a language syntax feature that makes the number of trailing parents flexible, it was better solved with IDE feature called Parinfer.



* Is the problem being addressed significant enough to warrant a change to Swift?
I do not think so. It’s a minor issue with minor consequences.



* Does this proposal fit well with the feel and direction of Swift?
The only part of Swift “feel and direction” that I think can be of relevance is its focus on educational cases. I do not have any data concerning whether trailing commas will be easier or harder to grasp by the students. However, it’s one more think to explain.



* If you have used other languages or libraries with a similar feature, how do you feel that this proposal compares to those?
I’ve used a little Python and JavaScript. I didn’t use this feature in those languages, but it was just me. I think it fits better with their scripting style, where by “scripting” I mean very forgiving, very flexible (multiple ways to achieve the same effect) and hardly ever preventing you from making mistakes. I think Swift was always trying to drive away from this attitude and replace it with “scripting syntax for safe language” one.



* How much effort did you put into your review? A glance, a quick reading, or an in-depth study?
I’ve read the proposal and related discussion.



All the best,

Krzysztof
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