I have no inside information on this issue, but can only
speculate.

When in a language it is desired to implement a change in
syntax which would render obsolete a substantial amount of existing
code,  it is often done in steps.  First the old syntax, while
supported, is tagged with an error to discourage its use.  But
after sufficient time has elapsed the support for the old
style is discontinued.  There are examples of this in C.

Clearly the POV team wants to use the semicolon to avoid ambiguity
in some situations.  These situations don't yet exist, but some
change in syntax in a future released will exploit the semicolon.

What I find curious is that the semicolon is used on only a subset of
commands....

Okay :
#declare a = 4;

Not okay:
#render "Hello!\n";

But I am sure this will make more sense at 3.2.

Dan

P.S. I would have preferred the jump be made more directly.  There
is always #version 3.0 to preserve old code.  The current state
of the syntax seems to lack coherence.



Ken wrote:
> 
> What practical purpose does Pov's non-fatal error messages serve.
> Example using the new syntax of 3.1:
> 
> wrong  #delclare Red =  rgb<1,0,0>
> correct #delclare Red =  rgb<1,0,0>;
> 
> Notice the missing ";" ?
> Without the semicolon an error is reported stated "all declared float ..."
>     My argument is if the syntax does not actually affect the outcome
> of the desired feature why report it as an error at all ?
> I'm not knocking it, nor am I asking for a change, I am only seeking
> clarification on this issue.
> 
> Ken Tyler

-- 
http://www.flash.net/~djconnel/

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