"Barry A. Warsaw" wrote:
"PP" == Paul Prescod
writes: PP> This doesn't make internationalization more difficult. As PP> proof I present mailman, which *already* does the PP> interpolation I ask for as a feature of its implementation of PP> "_()". All I'm asking is that mailman's interpolation feature PP> ALSO be available under a simplified syntax at compile time.
Except that remember the interpolation step must happen /after/ the translation step, otherwise it's worse than useless.
Right, that's why you *for localized software* you should do it at runtime. And insofar as the process of localization *already* consists of touching every string, it takes no extra effort to change a compile-time interpolation to a runtime one while you are at it. But the newbie to Python should not be saddled with a syntax optimized towards advanced users, and even as a person often hacking single-language software I shouldn't be saddled with dynamic interpolation until I need it either! "Saddled with" means "required to use a verbose, non-intuitive syntax with a bunch of special cases for a simple and common operation." Paul Prescod