feature to remove: free carets

[John (Most modern computers would break if you stood on them) Mackin <john@ civil.su.oz.au>]

Paul's been asking us for features to remove from es.  My vote goes to
something I don't think anyone else has suggested for cutting yet:
free carets.  I don't like free carets.  I don't ever want to have
them.  They remind me too much of sh.  I am very happy to always
write explicit carets.  Even Duff didn't like the idea that much;
cf. the final sentence of sec. 36, `Discussion' (p. 295 in the
Tenth Edition papers): `I could also eliminate the insertion
of free carets if users were not adamant about it.'  Sec. 11
itself, `Free Carets,' begins: `User demand has dictated that
rc insert carets in certain places, to make the syntax look
more like the Bourne shell.'

I'd very much like to see free carets dropped from es.  The
fewer lexical kludges, the better.

OK,
John.