Consider wrapping namespaces in double-backticks

[kylesluder]

As of 50a7be7, I'm now using a single backtick to separate namespaces from primary identifiers:

@interface `NSObject <`NSObject>

@interface MyNamespace`MyClass (OtherNamespace`Category)

@class MyNamespace`OtherClass;

[[MyNS`Foo OtherNS`alloc] `init];

[o performSelector:@selector(`foo)];

I'm worried a single backtick isn't visible enough, especially in the @selector() form for selectors in the global namespace (presuming its replacement of the default namespace). It also means backtracking during parsing, since a namespace is a valid C identifier.

If I wrap namespaces in backticks instead, the parser immediately knows that the next identifier token is part of a namespace. Plus it's easier to read selectors:

[o performSelector:@selector(``retain)];

[o `MyNamespace` _sekretMethod:self];

[akashivskyy]

I would prefer colons (:). Looks more… obj-c.

[kylesluder]

Colons can't be used within a @selector() expression.

For example, this is currently a valid selector: @selector(::doSomething:). It names a method that takes three arguments.

[akashivskyy]

OK, you're right. And what about backslashes (like in PHP)? It's not like I'm bitching about backticks, but they seem very, very strange to me and almost impossible to notice…

It would look like this:

@interface \NSObject <\NSObject>

@interface MyNamespace\MyClass (OtherNamespace\Category)

@class MyNamespace\OtherClass;

[[MyNS\Foo OtherNS\alloc] \init];

[o performSelector:@selector(\foo)];

[o performSelector:@selector(\\retain)];

[o \MyNamespace\_sekretMethod:self];

This looks much more readable, IMHO.

[kylesluder]

The backslash is already the line continuation character as well as the escape character within strings.

The conflict with line continuation isn't an insurmountable obstacle, but it does require ensuring that the tokenizer doesn't accidentally start treating line continuations as namespaces.

The escape character is much more perilous to me. It means that NSStringFromSelector(@"\ns\aClass") doesn't work and produces no warnings. (One side effect is that one cannot use the stringification token operator to convert a namespaced identifier into a string.)