[Python-3000] Support for PEP 3131

[Baptiste Carvello]

Leonardo Santagada a écrit :
> I don't. It is a bad idea to distribute non-ASCII code for libraries  
> that are supposed to be used by the world as a whole. But  
> distributing a chinese code for doing something like taxes using  
> chinese rules is ok and should be encouraged (now, I don't know they  
> have taxes in china, but that is not the point). 
> 
I wouldn't be so sure. In open source, you never know in advance to whom your
code can be useful. Maybe some part of you chinese tax software can be
refactored into a more generic library. If you write the software with non-ASCII
identifiers, this refactored library won't be usable for non-chinese speakers. A
good opportunity will be missed, but *you won't even know*.

> No they are not, people doing open source work are probably going to  
> still be coding in english so that is not a problem, but that chinese  
> tax system if it is open sourced people in china can easily help  
> fixing bugs because identifiers are in their own language, which they  
> can identify.
> 
good point, but I'm not sure it is so much more difficult to identify
identifiers, given that you already need to know ASCII characters in order to
identify the keywords. Sure, you won't understand what the identifiers mean, but
you'll probably be able to tell them from one another.

> The thing is, people are predicting a future for python code on the  
> open source world. One in which devs of open source libraries and  
> programs will start coding in different languages if you support  
> unicode identifiers, something that is not common today (using some  
> form of ASCIIfication of their languages) and didn't happen with the  
> Java, C#, Javascript and Common Lisp communities. In light of all  
> that I think this prediction is probably wrong. 
>
Well that's only true for the open source libraries and programs *that we know
of*. Maybe there is useful software that we don't know of, precisely because it
is not "marketed" to a global audience. That's what I call lost opportunities.

> We are all consenting  
> adults and we know that we should code in english if we want our code  
> to be used and to be a first class citizen of the open source world.  
> What do you have to support your prediction?
> 
I have experience in another community, namely the community of physicists.
Here, most people don't know in advance how you're supposed to write open source
code. They learn in the doing. And if someone starts coding with non-ASCII
identifiers, he won't have time to recode his program later. So he will simply
not publih it. Lost opportunity again.

Cheers,
BC