On Tue, Aug 10, 2010 at 9:45 PM, Shawn Fox <shawnkfox@gmail.com> wrote:
I'd go the opposite way and require a special sigil character for local
variables. One thing that seems to be forgotten here is that functions are
also variables, so if you had to import all your variables in some way, you
would also have to import functions as well. Having different rules for
functions than regular variables would be a huge mess. I have no issue with
global variables, but it would help a great deal if it was easier to
distinguish between a local and a global by directly looking at their
usage... perhaps if local variables require the use of a sigil character
instead of relying on a declaration such as "local"
-- assign 35 to local variable x
$x = 35
-- assign global x + local x to local y variable
$y = x + $x
-- assign global y = local y
y = $y
In my opinion, requiring a sigil for locals makes the situation worse.
At the moment, if you're expecting a local, but make a typo, then you
get a global. With your proposed change, if you make a typo *OR*
forget the sigil, then you get a global. A good editor should be able
to offer different colouring for locals and globals, which gives the
benefit of letting you see what is local without having to decorate
names.
