Re: Strings as variable names

[David Sumbler]

> > From: David Kastrup <address@hidden>
> > To: Andrew Bernard <address@hidden>
> > Cc: address@hidden
> > Subject: Re: Strings as variable names
> > Date: Mon, 28 Dec 2015 12:51:51 +0100
> > 
> > Andrew Bernard <address@hidden> writes:
> > 
> > > <address@hidden on behalf of address@hidden> wrote:
> > >>
> > >> The quote syntax is a bit of an ugliness which was added for sort-of
> > >> consistency reasons.
> > >
> > > Consistency with what actually?
> > 
> > After
> > 
> >     xxx = ...
> > 
> > you can refer to \xxx.  And
> > 
> > "xxx" = ...
> > 
> > has always been allowed for arbitrary strings.
> > 
> > > And so the NR should in fact therefore be updated?
> > 
> > It's not really making stuff more readable.

I think it would be useful to have it added to the NR.

I have always been frustrated by the fact that I can't (or thought I
couldn't) use underscores in variable names, and also that numbers are
not allowed.

Using the syntax with quotes is rather ugly, I agree.  But it is
nonetheless potentially useful for two reasons:
(1) it enables us to use numbers etc. in variable names
(2) the quotes help to distinguish our own defined variables from
Lilypond's own.

David