[Python-Dev] Keyword for block statements

[Guido van Rossum]

[Nick Coghlan]
> Would 'suite' work as the keyword?
> 
> Calling these things 'suite' statements would match the Python grammar,

Actually that's an argument *against* -- too confusing to have two
things we call suite.

> give an
> obvious visual indicator through the use of a keyword, reduce any confusion
> resulting from the differences between Python suites and Ruby blocks (since the
> names would now be different),

There's no need for that; they are close enough most of the time any way.

> and avoid confusion due to the multiple meanings
> of the word 'block'.

Actually, in Python that's always called a suite, not a block. (Though
the reference manual defines "code block" as a compilation unit.)

> And really, what PEP 340 creates is the ability to have user-defined suites to
> complement the standard control structures.

Give that suite and block are so close in "intuitive" meaning, if
there were no convincing argument for either, I still like "block"
much better -- perhaps because suite is the technical term used all
over the grammar.

-- 
--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)