[Python-3000] PEP 3131 roundup

[Steve Howell]

--- Ka-Ping Yee <python at zesty.ca> wrote:

>  
> > > B. Should the default behaviour accept only
> ASCII identifiers, or
> > >    should it accept identifiers containing
> non-ASCII characters?
> >
> > Added as an open issue.
> [...]

Martin, I hope you close out this issue, and just make
a firm, explicit stance that PEP 3131 accepts
non-ascii identifiers as the default, even though I'm
60/40 against it.  Guido has already posted some
comments that suggest that he is behind the already
implicit idea from the PEP that unicode would be the
default.

Then I would change the open issue to be how best to
address ascii users who want to revert to an
ascii-only mode.  A simple environment variable like
ASCII_ONLY would to the trick.


> 
> C asks "should there be an on/off switch"; B asks
> whether the
> default should be on or off.
> 
> > > D. Should the identifier character set be
> configurable?
> >
> > Still seems to be the same open issue.
> 
> D asks "should you be able to select which character
> set you want",
> which is finer-grained than an all-or-nothing
> switch.
> 

I agree with the importance of this distinction.  

For example, in my American corporate day job, on
question (B), I'm 90/10 on ascii-only, and (D) is a
total non-issue to me, because at least in the short
term, I could probably deal with the few
Unicode-identifierified modules that I ever needed
using some kind of very coarse workaround.

In a more international context, such as trying to get
more international users for some open source app I'd
written, I'd be 90/10 on unicode-tolerance, and (D)
would be much more of an important issue for me,
because it could affect usability of the app.

(B) and (D) really address two different classes of
users, and I think both groups could reasonably
include a lot of opponents to PEP 3131 as currently
written.

Cheers,

Steve

P.S.  Martin, thanks for adding the objections to the
PEP.  I really think it's good to have it for the
records.  Maybe five years later from now, we'll look
back on it and wonder what the heck we were thinking.
:)






 



       
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