[Python-3000] Support for PEP 3131

[Jim Jewett]

On 5/25/07, Guido van Rossum <guido at python.org> wrote:
> On 5/25/07, Jim Jewett <jimjjewett at gmail.com> wrote:

> > I agree that saying "Japanese identifiers are OK from now on" still
> > shouldn't turn on Cyrillic identifiers.  I think the current
> > alternative boils down to some variant of

> > where allowedchars.txt would look something like

> > 0780..07B1    ; Thaana

> > or

> > 10000..100FA  ; Linear_B plus some blanks I was too lazy to exclude

> I still think such a command-line switch (or switches) is the wrong
> approach. What if I have *one* module that uses Cyrillic legitimately.
> A command-line switch would enable Cyrillic in *all* modules.

Yes.

And that is the desired outcome for a student situation.

> ... Auditing code using a separate tool can ...

Large organizations can do whatever they need to, including an
automated transliteration before import.  The concern is for
relatively small groups, who don't have huge processes in place.

(1)
A new student shouldn't need to learn about import flags just to use
native characters.

Giving such fine-grained control as an advanced option is OK, but it
shouldn't be the *only* way to say "ASCII + characters I use when
reading or writing."

(2)
Someone downloading source code (not binary, source code) shouldn't
have to remember to run that code through an external tool just to see
if it uses unexpected characters (and might be saying something very
different from what she expected).

Note that this applies even to people who do want the extended
identifiers; wanting to write Han Chinese characters does not imply
wanting to accept Greek Coptic characters.

-jJ