Wolfgang,

Thanks for this explanation. It's good to know the background.

On Fri, Jun 09, 2006 at 08:33:10AM +0200, Wolfgang Helbig wrote:
> Squeakers,
> 
> >*yes*, the "pascalish" ":=" assignment is ANSI and it should be used as
> 
> It stems from Algol 60. And Algol 60 inherited it from mathematics, where it is
> used to "define" something. Algol 60 was not only used as a programming language 
> but also as a mathematical notation to describe algorithms concisely and 
> unambiguously.
> 
> As a mathematical notation Algol 60 used strange symbols. So something that 
> resembles a little "v" is the boolean "or" operator. These symbols were employed 
> regardless of the limitations imposed by keyboards and display devices.
> 
> Nowadays Smalltalk offers all the flexibility needed. The scanner in my image, 
> that originated from Squeak 1.18, does not accept ":=" any more. I simply do not 
> need it. In the tradition of mathematics and Algol 60 I have the human reader in 
> mind when composing a method, and if a computer program cannot cope with my 
> preferences, I prefer to adapt the program to my taste instead of adapting my 
> taste to the limitations of some "standards".