On Sun, Oct 22, 2000 at 04:01:43PM -0700, Adrian Tymes wrote:
Rebeka Thomas wrote:
Edmund Wong wrote:
As the computer and mathematical types would see it, it goes like this:
performance = motivation = (total_interest - self_pity)
Needs a period at the end. Mathematical formulas don't need them on
their own, but anything inserted into a sentence is still inserted into
the sentence, and the sentence needs a period at its send.
It actually resembles a computer statement more than a mathematical
formula, and that needs a semicolon at the end. that will also offset
the awkwardness of having a right paren followed by a period.
If this was all code, or even multiple lines of code, then yes. My
point is that the surrounding context - namely, a work of fiction in
English, rather than a computer program - dictates the grammar rules.
Actually, if anything, I'd call it pseudocode, and I doubt that there are
any hard and fast rules which cover the above situation.
Also, ending a statement with a semicolon is a fixture of certain languages
(most notably C/C++ and Perl), but it is by no means a universal method of
ending a statement.