JSR-666: extended operator set

March 19, 2003 4:07 PM

The brainstorming on JSR-666 continues. The JSR-666 expert group has noted that since Java source is essentially Unicode, there are thousands of potential operators going begging, simply because they don't appear on regular keyboards. This minor inconvenience should not deter us from improving the language, so we are proposing the following additions:

(Note: All these characters display on my Mac. YMMV)

¿
The ‘unless’ alternative ternary operator
double-negation
§
Shift left, then shift right, or, create a new ‘universe’ of objects (the spiral-galaxy operator)
Ø
The empty array.
ø
The little empty array
Ω
The full array
BigInteger.MAX_INT
« »
Canada-friendly comments. e.g. «this comment will be translated into French when compiled in Quebec» or...
«
Shift left, very quickly
Haha, Perl, we've got a real diamond operator!
£
Compress object (may be confused with # in the USA)
Denote a multi-line string literal
©
This object may not be clone()'d without permission.
a ¬ b
From a, subtract most of b or, Sutract b from a, then shift right.

The expert group will continue to ponder any more valuable additions to the Java language that the Unicode instruction set can provide. Submissions from the general public are welcome.

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7 Comments

Ø and ø is characters in the danish alphabet. Some people use method- and variable-names in their native tongue, so I don't think putting them on the list of potential operators is wise.

This is also the case in norway. Stay away from alphabet chars. (ÆØÅ no/de. ÄÖÅ se).

While I apologise to our nordic brethren, you just can't stand in the way of progress.

The diamond operator looks square to me. This is what happens when unicode support "falls over".

® - Allocate variable to a register. (And we'll have to amend the JVM spec so it includes some general purpose registers)

Simon Brunning suggests rich-text identifiers, while in comments Mats Henricson suggests i18n-equivalent identifiers: http://www.brunningonline.net/simon/blog/archives/000666.html


It is with great concern I note the absence of the essntial operator

~ Roughly

e.g

// if x is roughly similar to y
if( x ~ y ){

}


this might require adding :

package java.lang;

interface RoughlyCompareable{
boolean roughlyLike(Object o);
}

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