Why does handlebar use [] for quoting

[yairlenga]

Does anyone know why handlebar used [] for quoting, not following the JavaScript notation when using the dot notation ?

e.g. the JavaScript ‘city[item.cityid].name’ will lookup he city by the items cityid. In handlebar, This will be interpreted as ‘city[“item.cityid”][“name”]’.

I know that the explicit lookup can perform the task.

We use handlebar to allow customization of reports, and many users are repeatedly making the mistake of assuming that the [] will be evaluated, based on their experience with JavaScript, and the similarities between handlebars and javascript expressions.

[jaylinski]

It's true, it's pretty confusing. I'm not sure why it was done this way.

Related: #1759