On 2021-08-31 at 11:15:22 -0700, Nick Parlante <nick@cs.stanford.edu> wrote:
As mentioned, PEP8 is formally for narrow cases, and includes disclaimers about not applying it mechanically, reflecting a basic reasonableness. Nothing to complain about there.
As a practical matter, the IDEs just default to having PEP8 checking on, and they do it in a very visual way - akin to a text editor which puts little squiggles under words it thinks are misspelled.
Aha: The IDEs are the zealots. :-) (I might liken PEP8 violations to natural language grammar recommendations rather than spelling mistakes: words are either misspelled or they're not; many grammar "violations" are matters of style, individual preference, or accepted norms that change over time.) I'm not sure I have much to add that hasn't been said already, except perhaps that your issue is, indeed, with the IDEs and the linters rather than with PEP8. Do you tell your students which IDE(s) and linters to use, and/or how to set them up? [...]
I want to get to a world that is, let's say, "== tolerant" ...
Do you use floating point values in your course?