Description
In Fluent 0.5 (#63) we added a requirement for = sign to be placed after each identifier. The motivation was multifold:
- It was perceived by some members of the team as more readable
- It was supposed to allow for better error recovery
- It was supposed to be necessary for white space relaxation planned for 0.7
While the first argument is fully subjective and likely impossible to resolve within the realm of quantifiable data, the latter two were assumptions about future syntax and thus could only be verified after the syntax relaxation change lands.
In result, I suggested that we'll wait for 0.7 to be released and then verify if the assumptions still hold.
Now, with 0.7 released, I tested it and believe that the = sign is not required for either of the two features of the syntax. I assume that in the meantime the way those features work must have changed, for it seems to me that we can lift the requirement without impact on the error recovery or white space relaxation.
I have a POC patch which implements the change to the reference parser which I'd like to use for evaluation of the proposal.
I believe that lifting the requirement makes the syntax more readable, and brings back the value of = sign as an indicator whether the message has a value or not.