{+flag}, {-flag} as shorthand for {flag: true}, {flag: false}

[TrevorBurnham]

It's great that {foo} is shorthand for {foo: foo}, because that's a common (and awkward) construction; {option: true} and {option: false} are also very common, and a series of options could be made much more readable by introducing a shorthand. For instance, instead of

options = {invert: true, buffer: false, copy: true, thumbnail: false, zoom: true}

you could write

options = {+invert, -buffer, +copy, -thumbnail, +zoom}

I see this as a significant improvement in readability—it's much easier to check whether a particular option is enabled or disabled— as well as sheer succinctness.

Note that I'm proposing that this syntax only work inside of explicit curly braces, just as the {foo: foo} shorthand should only work that way (currently, no one has figured out how to implement this desired behavior).

[satyr]

Like the idea, but prefixing +/- seems problematic as they mean completely different things elsewhere. Postfix maybe?

options = {invert+, buffer-}

[TrevorBurnham]

Hmm, I find the postfix form a little less readable (due to spacing), and it would still be ambiguous in a curly-brace free context, since

a = b+
c

is a legitimate way of writing a = b + c. Within curly braces, neither syntax is ambiguous.

[satyr]

Wasn't talking about debracability (?) there (though it's a possibility in postfix version). Observe that +invert, can be a valid expression, while invert+, cannot.

[TrevorBurnham]

{+invert, -buffer}

and

{invert+, buffer-}

are both invalid expressions.

Is your point that the meaning of +invert should be kept consistent even in invalid contexts? Normally I'd agree, but I don't see the use of invert+ as a self-contained expression as any more consistent; after all, invert+ is a valid line, as I pointed out above (making debracability impossible), and +invert is of course meaningless as an expression when nothing is done with the resulting value.

Let's go with whichever syntax is most readable. I think that's the prefix syntax, especially when broken into multiple lines:

options = {
  +invert
  +copy
  +zoom
  -buffer
  -thumbnail
}

[satyr]

especially when broken into multiple lines

Uh, I see your point now. prefixes line well.

[satyr]

satyr/coco@3bc8c6f

[jashkenas]

Sorry, Trevor, this is a couple degrees too far golfed for my taste. I'd rather see:

invert: yes, zoom: no

Closing the ticket.

[michaelficarra]

Related: satyr/coco@457f3e9