RE: [Python-Dev] What is the ":" for in python?
I was asked why python required a ":" in its syntax and then saw Pete Shinners query on changing the parser to treat "def" to ":" as a unit.
What is the purpose of the ":"?
Why doesn't the parser work as Pete suggests already? Of course the same rules should be true of "if" and ":", "while" and ":"
If I recall correctly, the original reason for the ":" is that the designers of ABC (which provided much of the original inspiration for Python) conducted a study and found that people recognized block boundaries better if they were introduced by a ":" in addition to being indentation delimited then if they were just indentation delimited. For more details see this posting of Tim's: http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2000-December/022506.html
if x > 10 and x < 20: do_in_range()
rather then
if( x > 10 and x < 20 ): do_in_range()
Interesting. Everyone has their own preferences, but I find BOTH of these very difficult to read. I would prefer if (x > 10 and x < 20): do_in_range() Of course if (10 < x < 20): do_in_range() is even better <wink>. -- Michael Chermside
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Michael Chermside