Dave Herman (via Ehud Lamm):
One of my favorite insights about syntax design appeared in a retrospective on C++ by Bjarne Stroustrup:
- For new features, people insist on loud explicit syntax.
- For established features, people want terse notation.
I call this Stroustrup’s Rule. Part of what I love about his observation is that it acknowledges that design takes place over time, and that the audience it addresses evolves. Software is for people and people grow.