On 05/25/2016 04:03 PM, Sven R. Kunze wrote:
On 25.05.2016 22:11, Ethan Furman wrote:
On 05/25/2016 12:38 PM, Sven R. Kunze wrote:
Maybe, it's just me but I still tend to think that using unquoted strings should be reserved for attribute unpacking.
lists, tuples, and dicts are basic containers -- having syntax to unpacak them easily is a clear win; attribute unpacking not so much:
Wait a second. Reading your example below, do you imply that dicts actually should provide something like a attribute access to its keys?
d = {'a': 1,'b': 2} d.b 2
No. I'm saying attribute access is already extremely easy, so we don't need to try and make it easier.
But let me explain how I approached the problem by considering it from the the "new users" perspective. Really fast, he will build up the following associations:
attributes <-> .abc dict keys <-> ['abc'] or [other stuff] list/tuple keys <-> [123]
So, from his perspective everything is clearly separated: lists/tuples use integers, dicts use mostly strings with quotes and objects have attributes which can be used like normal variables without quotes.
And this newbie would be wrong, as [other stuff] for a mapping can easily be integers just like lists/tuples.
Mixing things up (by removing/mixing the visual indicators), makes me feel nervous about the consistent perception of Python. Maybe, it's just FUD on my side but I can't help this feeling.
We already have that situation: some_var = [1, 2] a = some_var[0] b = some_var[1] is exactly the same as a, b = some_var and the visual indicators (the integers, the item access) are nowhere to be seen. -- ~Ethan~