Re: [ANN] Lua 5.2.0 (beta-rc1) now available

[David Manura <dm.lua@...>]

On Wed, Jun 15, 2011 at 6:35 PM, Tony Finch <dot@dotat.at> wrote:
> Given the constraints of the parser I prefer @label or ::label without
> trailing punctuation. (If you want a terminator you can add one or more
> semicolons.)

Moreover, this misleadingly resembles a method call:

  @y: f()

Note that 5.2.0-beta-rc1 ignores spaces inside the label, and labels
are statements, so these are both identical:

  @y:; f()
  @  y  :  f()

My thought is to omit the colon and and use a space:

  @ y

When you read that, you can think of it or verbalize it as

  at y

Here, "@" is not a sigil modifying the identifier y, but rather it *is
a keyword*.  Coding style guidelines often recommend spaces around
keywords, even if the syntax doesn't always require it ("if(x)then
g()end").

As further argument that "@" is not a sigil, we write "goto y" not "goto @y".