[Python-3000] sets in P3K?

[Guido van Rossum]

On 4/27/06, Kay Schluehr <kay.schluehr at gmx.net> wrote:
> Yes, Py3K + Unicode rulez! I'm +1 on this but not before having a Py3K
> keyboard :)

I know you were only joking in a dreamy sort of way; but I have a
serious point to make against Unicode in the language source code.

*Supporting* Unicode is very important for equality amongst nations.
But *requiring* it in order to type your programs would just create
*inequality*. Think of the $100 laptop. Think of other refurbished
laptops being sent to 3rd world countries. Think of people whose
keyboard is already full with the characters of their native language.

We're lucky enough that the latin alphabet and ASCII are historically
dominant so there will always be a way to type "A" or "{" (although I
believe Swiss keyboards already require an option key for one or two
common Python punctuation characters).

I'm also not in favor of supporting a Unicode version and an ASCII
alternative for certain characters; this would just create more
inequality, and everybody would have to learn to read both and know
the equivalence.

I want good Unicode support for string literals and comments.
Everything else in the language ought to be ASCII.

Hopefully Python 4000 will be designed in a different world.

--
--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)