<div dir="ltr">My vim configuration for a year or two has looked something like this (the screenshot doesn't show the empty set symbol, but that's part of my conceal configuration: <a href="http://gnosis.cx/bin/.vim/after/syntax/python.vim">http://gnosis.cx/bin/.vim/after/syntax/python.vim</a>).</div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Oct 30, 2016 at 7:13 AM, Chris Angelico <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:rosuav@gmail.com" target="_blank">rosuav@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><span class="">On Mon, Oct 31, 2016 at 12:39 AM, Paul Moore <<a href="mailto:p.f.moore@gmail.com">p.f.moore@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
> It's certainly not difficult, in principle. I have (had, I lost it in<br>
> an upgrade recently...) a little AutoHotkey program that interpreted<br>
> Vim-style digraphs in any application that needed them. But my point<br>
> was that we don't want to require people to write such custom<br>
> utilities, just to be able to write Python code. Or is the feeling<br>
> that it's acceptable to require that?<br>
<br>
</span>There's a chicken-and-egg problem. So long as most people don't have<br>
tools like that, a language that requires them is going to be very<br>
annoying - but so long as no major language uses such characters,<br>
there's no reason for developers to set up those kinds of tools.<br>
<br>
Possibly the best way is a gentle introduction of alternative<br>
syntaxes. Since Python currently has no "empty set display" syntax,<br>
that seems like a perfect starting point. You can always type "set()",<br>
but that involves an actual function call; using ∅ gives a small<br>
performance boost, eliminates the risk of shadowing, etc, etc. All<br>
minor points, but could be convenient enough. Also, if repr(set())<br>
returns "∅", it'll be easy for anyone to get hold of the character for<br>
copy/paste.<br>
<br>
As of 2016, I think it's not acceptable to *require* this, but it may<br>
be time to start making use of it, retaining ASCII-only digraphs and<br>
trigraphs, the way C has alternative spelling for braces and so on.<br>
Then time passes, most people will be comfortable using the characters<br>
themselves, and the digraphs/trigraphs can be deprecated, with new<br>
syntax not being given any.<br>
<br>
Pipe dream?<br>
<br>
ChrisA<br>
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