[swift-evolution] [Review] SE-0144: Allow Single Dollar Sign as a Valid Identifier

[Tony Allevato]

On Fri, Oct 14, 2016 at 1:00 PM Chris Lattner via swift-evolution <
swift-evolution at swift.org> wrote:

> Hello Swift community,
>
> The review of "SE-0144: Allow Single Dollar Sign as a Valid Identifier"
> begins now and runs through October 18. The proposal is available here:
>
>
> https://github.com/apple/swift-evolution/blob/master/proposals/0144-allow-single-dollar-sign-as-valid-identifier.md
>
> Reviews are an important part of the Swift evolution process. All reviews
> should be sent to the swift-evolution mailing list at
>
>         https://lists.swift.org/mailman/listinfo/swift-evolution
>
> or, if you would like to keep your feedback private, directly to the
> review manager.
>
> What goes into a review?
>
> The goal of the review process is to improve the proposal under review
> through constructive criticism and contribute to the direction of Swift.
> When writing your review, here are some questions you might want to answer
> in your review:
>
>         * What is your evaluation of the proposal?
>

-1. Since the dollar sign is used as a prefix for unnamed closure
arguments, allowing it to be used by itself as a user-defined identifier
would be odd and potentially confusing. It's also, IMO, a useless
standalone identifier because it provides zero self-documentation as to its
purpose. Reserving "$" means that users will know that when they see it, it
refers to something special and intrinsic to the language.


>         * Is the problem being addressed significant enough to warrant a
> change to Swift?
>

No. The library using it is using an undocumented and accidental "feature"
that was removed for sound reasons and the language shouldn't change to
support that.


>         * Does this proposal fit well with the feel and direction of Swift?
>

No. The library that is motivating the change is trying to shoehorn
Javascript patterns into Swift; the language shouldn't be designed around
it. The author's own Cent library, which uses extensions, is a much more
Swift-appropriate way to tackle what the problem he's trying to solve.


>         * If you have used other languages or libraries with a similar
> feature, how do you feel that this proposal compares to those?
>

Java and Javascript allow $ as a standalone identifier. I don't see a
reason to follow that in Swift, though.


>         * How much effort did you put into your review? A glance, a quick
> reading, or an in-depth study?
>

Read the proposal.


>
> More information about the Swift evolution process is available at
>
>         https://github.com/apple/swift-evolution/blob/master/process.md
>
> Thank you,
>
> -Chris Lattner
> Review Manager
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> swift-evolution mailing list
> swift-evolution at swift.org
> https://lists.swift.org/mailman/listinfo/swift-evolution
>
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