[Python-Dev] [PATCH] Adding braces to __future__

[Mike Meyer]

On Fri, 9 Dec 2011 21:26:29 +0100
Cedric Sodhi <manday at gmx.net> wrote:
> Readable code, is it really an advantage?
> Of course it is.

Ok, you got that right.

> Forcing the programmer to write readable code, is that an advantage?
> No suspense, the answer is Of course not.

This is *not* an "Of course". Readable code is *important*. Giving
programmers more power in exchange for less readable code is a bad
trade.  For an extended analsysis, see:
http://blog.mired.org/2011/10/more-power-is-not-always-good-thing.html

One of Python's best points is that the community resists the urge to
add things just to add things. The community generally applies three
tests to any feature before accepting it:

1) It should have a good use case.
2) It should enable more readable code for that use case.
3) It shouldn't make writing unreadable code easy.

DB fails all three of these tests. It doesn't have a good use
case. The code you create using it is not more readable than the
alternative. And it definitely makes writing unreadable code easy.

And of course, it violates TOOWTDI.

    <mike