Comment by dkersten | Hacker News Reader

Comment by dkersten | Hacker News Reader

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I think if all type-information were kept together, it might read simpler:

    char*[X] arr;

You read strictly left to right: char pointer array of size X called arr. Basically, it takes a simple type (char in this case) and for each thing to the right, wraps it in something. You could read it as: given a char, we have a pointer to it, and an array of size X of these pointers.

It would be interesting if the use did "mirror" declaration:

    arr[5]*

That is, take element 5 of arr and derefence it.

Just some random thoughts...

> You read strictly left to right

That wouldn't play well with pointers to arrays and pointers to functions:

    int (*pa)[X]; // int(*)[X] pa;
    int (*fp)(void); // int(*)(void) fp;

Here is how I designed the type declaration syntax in my own language, Quaint (https://github.com/bbu/quaint-lang):

    pa: ptr(int[3]); // int (*pa)[3]
    fp: fptr(): int; // int (*fp)(void)
    arr: int[5]; // int arr[5]
    p: ptr(int); // int *p
    pp: ptr(ptr(int)); // int **pp
    arrp: ptr[5](int); // int *p[5]

You basically have the identifier first, and then a recursive expression which uses mostly function-call-like expressions in order to nest recursive types.

> char pointer array of size X called arr

That does not even English.

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