Re: [Python-ideas] Making colons optional?
Riobard Zhan
6 Feb
2009
6 Feb
'09
3:52 p.m.
On 6-Feb-09, at 5:41 AM, spir wrote:
Le Fri, 06 Feb 2009 08:40:27 +1100, Ben Finney ben+python@benfinney.id.au a écrit :
We don't like semicolons in Python, but what would stop a hard-core C users to end every statement with a semicolon? They have the choice.
Laziness (the good kind). Once someone discovers that they don't
have
to add the semicolons, and it doesn't affect the operation of their
program, those semicolons will, I predict, become much less frequent.
Ditto for colons!
<div class = "meta_note"> Strange that you do not realize that all arguments pro / against semi-colons apply to colons as well: they have same syntactic position and the same semantics. So that clear, consistent, choices are: * both to trash * both compulsery * both optional My opinion: the rest is blahblah confusing habits and good design. Saying "I prefere this because I'm used to it." is fully respectable. This does not mean that other options are weaker design choices. </div>Exactly! Making colons optional just like colons makes Python
more
consistent. It is a better design, even though we might have to fight
old habits at the beginning.