Re: [css-variables] CSS Variables are a NEW kind of variable

On Wed, Jun 13, 2012 at 4:17 PM, Chris Eppstein <chris@eppsteins.net> wrote:
> On Wed, Jun 13, 2012 at 3:49 PM, Tab Atkins Jr. <jackalmage@gmail.com>
> wrote:
> And I'm not satisfied with this reasoning. Lots of people are not. Just
> because variables cascade doesn't make them properties. If they were
> properties, then properties could be read like variables without any issue.

This doesn't make sense.  I explained the reason why non-variable
properties are problematic to hook into the variable-reference graph
except as endpoints.  (Normal properties have some implicit references
between each other which aren't currently well-documented and is
somewhat arbitrary anyway, so it would be difficult to avoid the
occasional footgun where you accidentally got a reference cycle.  We'd
also like to be able to add new features which produce more
references, but doing so would have the chance of producing new cycles
in existing code and breaking pages.)

You seem to be saying that if variable declarations look like
properties, then they must be identical to properties (and properties
must be identical to variable declarations), and if they're different
at all, then they must look different.

This is an overly-restrictive view which I cannot agree with.
Variable declarations are properties - they use the same syntax,
interact in the cascade the same way, etc.  They *additionally* have
the ability that their values can be substituted into other property's
values, because they're simple enough that they're guaranteed not to
have any implicit connections between themselves and any other
property - only the explicit, obvious ones produced by using variables
in their value.


> Here's why I don't like the property syntax: It gives fine structure to an
> identifier where there needn't be any. the delineation between declaring
> something is a variable and the name of that variable should be syntax, not
> a naming convention.

Are you talking about the "var-foo" pattern for naming variables?  I
agree this isn't ideal, and would prefer using syntax like "$foo:
blue;".  I haven't made the change to the draft yet because it
requires a change to the Core Grammar, and so I need the WG to agree
to it first (and by that I mean the browsers that the WG represents).

Note, though, that the difference between "$foo: blue;" and "var-foo:
blue;" is trivial - it's just one character of prefix versus four.
Either both are syntactic or both are naming conventions.


> If it really is a property then make it a property with a -user- prefix and
> then make all properties accessible for read. This is a lovely system. it's
> not variables really. but it is completely consistent. If your going to draw
> a line about what properties can be read as a value, then make this
> delineation formal.

I'm not sure sure what you're suggesting here.  The best I can
interpret this is that you're suggesting changing from "var-" to
"-user-" as a prefix, and then making it possible to substitute any
property's value into another.  The former suggestion seems identical
to the current draft except with a worse name.  The latter I've
already explained isn't going to fly.

~TJ

Received on Thursday, 14 June 2012 00:02:06 UTC