Re: [Python-ideas] Making colons optional?
On 6-Feb-09, at 3:53 AM, Scott Dial wrote:
Riobard Zhan wrote:
Your strong association with "here comes a suite" should come from indentation, that's how Python works.
Your argument makes no sense, since an indention does not
automatically
indicate a suite.
Indentation does not automatically indicate a statement, either. Why
do you omit semicolons?
Huh? You want to add more line noise? The colon is a
pleasant
compromise
between the "please give me some indicator that is visual" and the
"please don't make me type extra characters" crowds. Your arguments
that
people who don't want to type them shouldn't don't hold up when you
consider that other people have to read the code, and they are not
given
the option to put the colons back in upon reading it. And there is the
simple fact that a piece of code will be read more often than it is
ever
wrote. Does your burden out weigh all of the potential readers of
your code?
So you do agree colons are line noise? Colons are unpleasant for me
not because I have to type them (though this certainly is a factor,
too), but I have to read them every time I read Python code and they
disrupt the mental flow.
You are assuming colons improve readability, which I disagree.
Readability comes from indentation, not from punctuation. If you logic
holds, you might have to use semicolons as well.