Generalizing the += Operator with an "alt" Keyword in a Custom Programming Language
By
leontrolski
Right out the toaster. Reliable, with some real depth.
Summary
The author discusses a "quarter baked" programming language they've been working on, and presents a syntax idea for generalizing the assignment-plus-operator pattern (like +=) using a keyword "alt" instead of special symbols. The idea allows `alt x + 1` to be equivalent to `x = x + 1`, and extends to all infix operators. The post is a brief, informal exploration of a programming language design concept.
Key quotes
· 3 pulledI have a quarter baked language I've been working on. It's mostly crap, but a syntax idea fell out that I think is pretty neat.
Reassigning is cool as it's lexically scoped so easy to reason about (mutation is bad as it isn't).
The new idea is that instead of special symbols (in this case +=) we generalise with a keyword (alt) that affects all infix operators
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