SML syntax has been described as baroque. I am interested in
suggestions to make it less baroquen.
Carl Hauser, over lunch, strongly suggests allowing ',' and ';'
in places these symbols are currently not allowed. So one
can write
let in expr; end
if one wants. Similarly, [a,b,c,] ought to be clear enough.
Replacing the keyword 'handle' by 'catch' seems wise. But
this is not enough to treat the multiple ways that alternative
patterns may appear, leading to compiler errors. One
solution, of course, is simply to put
let in ... end
around case expressions and code ending with a 'catcher',
i.e., handler code. Not very pretty. Another is to use
case ... esac
to delimit the case pattern alternatives. But
catch ... hctac
is hideous.
While I am going to consider Haskell-style indentation, for
long code bodies some other solution is required, so the
indentation needs to be optional. (Also, some do not like it.)
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