kbp

Er, actually

  x = 2
  x = "foo"
  [y] = [3]
  [y] = ["bar"]

Sorry, I didn't re-read the code before translating.

I'm not sure what you find incomprehensible about the first example. The syntax is pretty standard. The only exotic thing is `$`, which is basically just like putting brackets around the rest of the line. Here's the first example roughly translated to Python:

  def main():
      x = 2
      [x] = ["foo"]
      y = 3
      [y] = ["bar"]
      print(x + y)

Seems about the same level of comprehensibility to me. Is there anything in particular you find difficult to understand?

The second example is expanded out and not how a person would normally write it, but if you're familiar with the basic concepts it's using, it shows why it works very clearly; think of it like assembler.

It works the same way in Haskell, eg

  main = do
    let x = 2
    let x = "foo"
    y <- pure 3
    y <- pure "bar"
    putStrLn $ x ++ y

which is really the same as

  main =
    let x = 2
    in let x = "foo"
       in pure 3 >>= \y ->
                       pure "bar" >>= \y ->
                                        putStrLn $ x ++ y

So it works pretty naturally where each assignment is kind of like a new scope. If the type system is good, I don't think it really causes issues.

Surely not in Canada?

I can hear them and tell that they're different accents, but I don't really distinguish them, I would call them both "British" and I wouldn't know which one's more posh.

Usually that effort should go toward naming functions rather than their results, though, and if the functions have good names, the results don't need them. In this example, `other_function` could have been named `get_user_data`, `new_function` could have been called `extract_user_details`, whatever.

Once you have good function names, which you should generally be spending a lot more effort on than good local variable names, you won't find any value in adding variables like `var foo = get_foo()`.

Works in Ruby:

  irb(main):001:1/ puts(%r
  irb(main):002:1* a+
  irb(main):003:0> .match? %q aaa )
  true

You can also ssh in via Emacs with Tramp, and use your highly customised Emacs to edit remotely.