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Discussion on: Java may be verbose, but who cares?

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danlebrero profile image
Dan Lebrero

Even between different languages?

My Java-wired-brain has said hundreds of times that it was not.

I have changed my mind.

What about you?

Do you optimize Leaf for succinctness? Does that impact readability?

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mortoray profile image
edA‑qa mort‑ora‑y • Edited

Yes, I even think so comparing across a language. If given the same functionaly equivalent solution in two languages, including error processing, then I would say the one with lower LOC* is of higher value.

Readability is an issue, but I find syntax redundancy is the biggest problem in readability. Less code is simply less to understand, even if it involves more complex operations.

Definitely for Leaf I'll be optimizing for succinctness, but I'm not in favour of complex syntactic structures. I also have inferred and implicit typing, which removes a lot of syntax (it can look like a dynamic language without being one)

(*We might need to be a bit careful in defining LOC though, perhaps just total functional code-size is better, to avoid packed lines somehow getting an undeserved higher score)

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danlebrero profile image
Dan Lebrero

Very good point about LOC.

Best of luck with Leaf!