Re: Command Languages Versus Programming Languages

In comp.unix.programmer Stefan Ram <ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de> wrote:

Janis Papanagnou <janis_papanagnou+ng@hotmail.com> wrote or quoted:

On 05.04.2024 01:29, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:

This is where indentation helps. E.g.
   a =
       b ?
           c ? d : e
       : f ?
           g ? h : i
       : j;
>

Indentation generally helps.

 
  Let me give it a try to find how I would indent that!
 
b?
  c? d: e:
  f?
    g? h: i:
    j;
 

Better:

  a = b ? (c ? d : e) :
      f ? (g ? h : i) :
      j;

Equivalent Lisp, for comparison:

  (setf a (cond (b (if c d e))
                (f (if g h i))
                (t j)))

And some people claim that ternaries are SO horribly
unreadable that they should never be used.