[Python-3000] Support for PEP 3131

[tomer filiba]

On 5/13/07, Collin Winter <collinw at gmail.com> wrote:
> No no no no no. This isn't a problem with the editor: it's a problem
> with allowing Hebrew identifiers.  Tomer can correct me on this, but I
> strongly doubt that it improves readability by forcing the programmer
> to constantly change which direction they're reading from, e.g.,  "if
> שם_משפחה.strip():"

well, you're right, but i'd've chosen another counter-example:

if בייקון.ביצים:
    pass

which comes first? does it say bacon.eggs or eggs.bacon?
and what happens if the editor uses a dot prefixed by LTR
marker? the meaning is reversed, but it still looks the same!

[Guillaume Proux]
> You are ruling out PEP3131 because there is no good editor able to
> support your language?

first, technical limitations do control the way we use computers.
it's a fact. second, RTL/LTR issues are nondeterministic,
and i'd rather leave heuristics out of my code.

again, if you want a hebrew-version of python, you'd also want
hebrew semantics and hebrew syntax.
see also http://cheeseshop.python.org/pypi/hpy

---

you can always translate or transliterate a word to english, like so:
if beykon.beytzim:

in the worst case, it wouldn't be meaningful to the english reader,
but at least other ppl could use your code.

> If you don't speak chinese, i reckon the probability you will ever
> (find and) use a library that would expose chinese name is 0.

you'd be surprised how many times i scanned through
japanese/chinese forums with an online translator, looking
for documentation or cheaper products :)


-tomer