Re: Internationalisation in programming languages [Was Re: lex patch]

[Edgar Toernig <froese@...>]

RLake@oxfam.org.uk wrote:
> 
> However,
> and Edgar may correct me here if I'm wrong, I think that there are some
> languages in which the correct quoting style is »quotation« and others
> where it is «quotation».

You're right. »quotation« is used here in Germany.  But only in books to
denote something spoken.  People don't use it in regular writing; they
use ,,quotation''.  But IMHO, that's not the problem (normally, US people
don't use "string" either - they use ``string'').

> But it is impossible to suggest it since they are not available in every
> character set

Yes, that's what makes them a "no no".

> If you're open to long-quote alternatives, though, I'd think seriously
> about << and >> (and it wouldn't bother me if « and » were synonyms, but it
> might bother someone who wanted to use T's with carons). Another
> alternative would be [< long quote >].

I was not very happy with the [[...]] quotes too and tried to find a better
token.  I wouldn't take <<...>>.  I would like to reserve them for later
extensions.  But [<...>] looks fine.

Btw, I think that Lua's [[...]] problem could be relaxed when the parser
would not count matching double brackets but all single brackets.  Then
[[a[b[c]]]] would be no problem.  (Of course, you would need matching
brackets within the string - but may be a lesser problem.)

> You would think we'd learn....

Nah, that would be too easy ;-)

Ciao, ET.