isocpp / isocpp/CppCoreGuidelines

Should alternative tokens be recommended?

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#1,088 8 comments 0 reactions 1 assignee View on GitHub

@gdr-at-ms is already working on this.

Since Nov 27, 2017.

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Description

Alternative tokens provide human-readable string names for certain operators.

For example:

if (x && y.empty()) {
}

Becomes:

if (x and y.empty()) {
}

I've always personally found these easier to read (perhaps influenced from Python background). As far as I understand these identifiers are proper keywords in C++. However, I am hesitant to use them because my impression is that it is not idiomatic to use them in C++.

Also, the bitwise operator names (bitand, bitor) feel like a bit of overkill compared to boolean ones.

Some options I feel could be considered:

  1. Guidelines don't mention alternative tokens (I couldn't find a mention in the current guidelines)
  2. Guidelines recommend no alternative tokens are used
  3. Guidelines recommend the boolean tokens (and, or, not)
  4. Guidelines recommend boolean and bitwise tokens (and, or, not, bitand, bitor, and_eq, etc)

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