Re: ISSUE-48: Less verbose delete syntax

On 8 Nov 2009, at 17:30, Andy Seaborne wrote:
>
> >> Isn't this going to lead to potentially easy mistakes to make?
> >> Omitting the ";" isn't necessarily a syntax error - it's a  
> different
> >> but valid set of requests.
> >
> > I think the ; is intended to be mandatory between operations.
>
> I'm not sure it solves the problem in a useful (not making errors  
> too easy) way.  Omitting ";" needs to lead to a synatx error, not an  
> alternative parsing.
>
> Example: from the F2F notes (and so I may have misunderstood):
>
> DELETE { ... }
> INSERT { ... }
> WHERE { ... }
>
> and
>
> DELETE { ... } ;
> INSERT { ... }
> WHERE { ... }
>
> are legal and different.  DELETE WHERE is better - maybe not better  
> enough.

Well,

DELETE WHERE { ... }
INSERT { ... }
WHERE { ... }

would presumably not be legal syntax? So I think there's less room for  
confusion with mandatory ;'s overall.

> Looked at it like that, different names for specific shortcuts might  
> be safer.  e.g. REMOVE { ... }

Perhaps, though It's more near-synonym verbs to learn.

> DELETE DATA, INSERT DATA could do with their own names.
>
> It's a tricky balance of regularity and avoiding all-too-easy  
> traps.  It is also a value judgement.

Yup, it's tricky stuff. I quite like DATA as a consistent modifier  
though.

- Steve

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Received on Sunday, 8 November 2009 19:35:28 UTC