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by bmitc 1286 days ago
Why is symmetry in word length needed?
3 comments

Why is anything "needed"? It's all a continuum of convenience, readability, familiarity, prior art, and preference.

That you fall somewhere differently on any or all of those spectrums than the author is fine.

Alignment.

    x = fst(some complex expression)
    y = snd(some complex expression)
The need for such alignment denotes a further deficiency in the language if it lacks pattern matching.

    (x, y) = some complex expression
And I’m not for sure if this alignment overrides the readability aspect. Verify few languages have alignment in mind, and even less formatters do, so it isn’t clear why alignment is so strongly needed in this very particular case. And what about third and fourth?
some people click on this.