console output without a newline

[mortax]

print() is handy for generating console output -- but it always includes a newline.

is there a way to print console output without a newline?

[Chriscbr]

Not at the moment - I think you're the first to bring this to our attention @mortax! This isn't is covered by our language spec yet.

(2 cents) I feel like there are at least a few directions we could take this...

• Change print to not include a newline, and consider a separate println function (see Java, Rust, Go)
• Add an optional argument to customize the line ending, as in print("hello", end: "") (see Python)

It could also make sense to view print as more of a logging functionality -- where each log is its own entry, and we are just displaying each on a newline for convenience. This would align with how console.log works in JavaScript and how many cloud logging libraries work.

[mortax]

got it. i very much favor the first solution since (i think) it's consistent with more other languages than Python's end: pattern. the downside, of course, is that neither is backward compatible. that said:

• we're still only in Alpha so better now than later
• i doubt many people are using print() at this point (and they can adapt quickly with a simple edit - which could even be automated)

It could also make sense to view print as more of a logging functionality -- where each log is its own entry, and we are just displaying each on a newline for convenience. This would align with how console.log works in JavaScript and how many cloud logging libraries work.

i completely agree. my first Wing program is a bit of an outlier. console-style logging can still be very helpful, of course. IMHO, i think it would be useful to have the ability to log partial entries.

i did a quick check of my code-base (which covers ~40 languages) and i found nine that use println:

• Clojure
• Frink
• Groovy
• Java
• Julia
• Kotlin
• Rust
• Scala
• V

thanks! i will try to work up a PR for further discussion.

[yoav-steinberg]

maybe rename print to log, and see if that's good enough for now. If we ever find that we need a way to manipulate output to the terminal we can add print/println.

[Chriscbr]

Implemented in #1898 ! Let's see how this feels to use 👍

[MarkMcCulloh]

A current workaround would be to use extern to write js that does process.stdout.write("...")

[mortax]

i finally tried this. not the prettiest but it worked perfectly.

i created process-helper.js:

exports.write = function(s) {
  return process.stdout.write(s);
};

added:

class Process {
  extern "./process-helper.js" pub static write(s: str);
} 

and use:

Process.write("-");

thanks!

[mortax]

addendum: i created a PR to re-introduce print() (sans newline).