[GAP Forum] semicolon

[Bill Allombert]

On Sun, Dec 11, 2011 at 12:36:46AM +0100, Lisette Brillemans wrote:
> Dear all,
> 
> 
> When using GAP you have to end every line with a semicolon, as in C and C++.
> This is allright, but it also has the effect (on me) that something like
> SciLab or so is now very user unfriendly because there using a semicolon
> supresses the output.
> I have been using GAP for quite a while now (more than a year) but of course
> apart from GAP you need sometimes other programs, like Pari for instance. But
> also Pari has the behaviour that a semicolon suppresses output. This is very
> unhandy if you’re accustomed to GAP.

As someone who use both PARI and GAP extensively, I do not think this is so
much a problem:
Under PARI/GP, you can enter % (or print(%) if you do not want to mess with the
history) to displays the result of the last computation, even if the output was
suppressed.

Under GAP, you can enter a single ; on the continuation line to end the line if
you forgot the trailing ;.
gap> 1+1
> ;
2

There are more annoying differences between GAP and GP (notably, differences in the way 
the command history is handled).

> Is it possible to implement a function or maybe a command line option to
> change the behaviour of the semicolon of GAP in version 4.5.
> Of course I’m only talking about oneliners. 

Alas, this would breaks the continuation line rules.

Cheers,
Bill.