On 3. Aug 2023, at 22:33, Tim Bray <tbray@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > where’s the guidance on when/when-not to use them?” It really does feel like something is missing. Is there nothing useful that we could say? This is a bit like guidance on when to say 3 + 6 and when (3 + 6) — or maybe when to say 3 + 3 * 2 and when 3 + (3 * 2). JSONPath doesn’t need the parentheses. I can think of two reasons why you would put them: (1) If you want to write a query that works with JSONPath-base as well as an existing implementation that does require the parentheses. (2) If you believe the parentheses increase readability (in general for a specific query, or possibly just to people that are used to the parentheses). The situation reminds me a bit of the return statement in C. I have seen many people habitually write `return (x)`, as if return required the parentheses. It doesn’t. Some people want the return look like a function call (which it doesn’t, because of the space — so some even write return(x)!). (This of course is exactly the inverse of what you want to happen — a return statement should stand out!) When I learned C, using parentheses (without space) was the style that was generally used — I honestly don’t even know whether parentheses maybe even were required in 6th edition UNIX… OK, this example doesn’t quite transfer, as there is no analogy (or potential confusion) with a function call in a filter expression. But I wouldn’t try to give guidance here for the same reasons I wouldn’t try to give guidance for return in C. Grüße, Carsten -- last-call mailing list last-call@xxxxxxxx https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/last-call
