Brackets, Braces and Parentheses - leveling the playing field.

[fade2gray]

Firstly, sorry about the novice PR.

I asked ChatGPT, "What would you collectively call these characters, [ ] { } ( )".

The reply ...

These characters are collectively called brackets. They can be further categorized into specific types:

Square brackets or box brackets: [ ]
Curly brackets or braces: { }
Parentheses or round brackets: ( )

In formal or technical contexts, referring to them simply as "brackets" is often understood, but specifying the type (square, curly, or parentheses) can provide additional clarity.

I propose, for the sake of clarity within the code, that "bracket/s" is used for the collective term, and the terms bBracket (box bracket), cBracket (curly bracket) and rBracket (round bracket) are used where required.

For example, in QuickConvertorV2_scintilla.ahk, Brace and brace/s would be replaced with Bracket and bracket/s respectively.

In ConverFuncs.ahk ...

try code := AddBracket(code) ; Add Brackets to Hotkeys
becomes
try code := Add_cBracket(code) ; Add cBrackets to Hotkeys

Result .= LabelPointer = 1 ? "} `; V1toV2: Added bracket before function`r`n" : ""
becomes
Result .= LabelPointer = 1 ? "} `; V1toV2: Added closing cBracket`r`n" : ""
etc,
etc,

I also propose, that all comments added to the converted code should be prefixed with ; V1toV2:, such as ...
Return "; REMOVED Random reseed" => Return "; V1toV2: REMOVED Random reseed"
... this would make it a lot easier for the end user to search for and remove any comments not pertaining to their code.

Am I going too far?

[mmikeww]

i use brackets, braces, parenthesis respectively, i think a new reader of the code would be able to understand what those mean easier than someone seeing cBracket

[andymbody]

I like the idea of the consistent comment headers added to converted code. It would be it a cinch to find/replace, especially with regex in Notepad++. I have no preference regarding the term for brackets. Can just call them brackets as far as I'm concerned (rather than tagging them with b,c,r). I doubt it will make much difference to those reading the code. Just my opinion...

[Banaanae]

Can just call them brackets as far as I'm concerned

I too am guilty of this, I don't think it's too bad as the comments always show before the bracket in question
} ; V1toV2: Added Bracket before label

I also propose, that all comments added to the converted code should be prefixed with ; V1toV2:

I too want this (I have been retroactively changing them as I find them, probably should do mass find replace

[Banaanae]

I agree with your comment prefixes, but I would like to keep the ; REMOVED: (with colon) prefix too

This way ; V1toV2: shows what changes need to be made that the converter can't do or useful notes with the conversion
and ; REMOVED: shows what has been removed from the source script (usually from being removed in v2)

[fade2gray]

@Banaanae don't understand why you are ok with ; V1toV2: Added ..., but not ; V1toV2: Removed ....
Would ; V1toV2: ADDED ... and V1toV2: REMOVED ... be more acceptable?

I just thought it would be easier for the end user to search for a single prefix, "V1toV2", in order to aid the removal of all comments added by the converter.

All comments added by the converter can be removed by using two regex's, ^; V1toV2:.*\r?\n and ; V1toV2:.*, which gives me another idea, add an option to the Gui to auto remove the added comments once the resulting code has been tested as successful - just a thought.

[Banaanae]

Putting it that way it makes much more sense, I understand now :)

[Banaanae]

All comment should now have ; V1toV2: in #257

[JoeWinograd]

Yes, too far, imo. I think that the bulk of the programming/scripting world uses braces, brackets, and parentheses without confusion. If you want to go one step further, maybe square brackets and/or curly braces. I don't recollect ever hearing box brackets or round brackets. The latter for parentheses is very strange...re ChatGPT on that one...too much A, not enough I. :) Regards, Joe

P.S. I replied to this via email on 2-Jul, but never got a notification email back with it, so I presume it wasn't delivered. I just discovered the Discussions tab on GitHub, so I'm trying again here. This is my first ever GitHub contribution.