Re: Proposal: allow @, $, !, and ? in Lua identifiers

[Dirk Laurie <dirk.laurie@...>]

2014-04-25 14:13 GMT+02:00 Coroutines <coroutines@gmail.com>:
> I'd like to discuss allowing @, $, !, and ? in identifier names.  I
> chose these explicitly because they can't be confused with an operator
> at the end of an identifier.
...
> I was told I could just modify lctype.c and add these characters for
> my personal build of Lua.  That is definitely possible, but I'd like
> to hear from the community if this is something others want --
> especially at a time when we are eagerly watching the changes in the
> 5.3 work versions.

I don't want it. Apart from the appalling Perlish appearance that Lua
programs could then acquire, it wastes syntax space that some future
Lua might wish to exploit for adding semantics. Aka bikeshedding.
Imagine if an earlier Lua had said '#', '~', '|' and '&' are  OK in identifier
names. Where would we be sitting now?

I actually have my personal build in which lctype.c is modified
to do what I thought I needed at the time. It's nice. One can have
UTF-8 names, such as APL characters, astrological symbols,
Hebrew letters. Actually I then went the whole hog and modified
the standalone executable too. Hours and hours of fun for old and
young alike.