[Python-3000] Draft pre-PEP: function annotations

[Jim Jewett]

On 8/13/06, Phillip J. Eby <pje at telecommunity.com> wrote:

> However, it's only a problem if you insist on writing brain-damaged
> code.  If you want interoperability here, you must write tell-don't-ask
> code.  ... is it really the case that
> so many people don't know what tell-don't-ask code is or why you want
> it?  I guess maybe it's something that's only grasped by people who have
> experience writing code intended for interoperability.

> [Meanwhile, I'm not going to respond to the rest of your message, since it
> contained some things that appeared to me to be a mixture of ad hominem
> attack and straw man argument.  I hope that was not actually your intent.]

I did not intend to insult you.

My point is simply that what is obvious to you -- and even what is
obvious to almost anyone experienced enough to be reading this message
-- won't be obvious to everyone first starting out.

I want to be able to use a new programmer's first contribution.

I absolutely don't want to tell them "Great, but you really should
have used XYZ.  We didn't really make that explicit because
experienced folks tend to do it naturally."

-jJ