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

[Cedric Sodhi]

I reply to your contribution mainly because I see another, valid
argument hidden in what you formulated as an opinion:

Readability would be reduced by such "noise". To anticipate other people
agreeing with that, let me say, that it would be exactly one more
character, and the same amount of key presses. All that, assuming you
use editor automatisms, which particularly the advocates of WSB tend to
bring forth in defense of WSB and aforementioned problems associated
with it.

Only one more character and not more key presses? Yes, instead of
opening a block with a colon, you open it with an opening bracket. And
you close it with a closing one.

Referring to "noise", I take it you are preferring naturally expressed
languages (what Roff's PIC, for example, exemplifies to banality).

How is a COLON, which, in natural language, PUNCTUATES a context, any
more suited than braces, which naturally ENCLOSE a structure?

Obviously, it by far is not, even from the standpoint of not
intersparsing readable code with unnatural characters.

On Sat, Dec 10, 2011 at 09:40:54AM +1100, Matt Joiner wrote:
>    If braces were introduced I would switch to Haskell, I can't stand the
>    noise. If you want to see a language that allows both whitespace, semi
>    colons and braces take a look at it. Nails it.
> 
>    On Dec 10, 2011 9:31 AM, "Cedric Sodhi" <[1]manday at gmx.net> wrote:
> 
>      On Fri, Dec 09, 2011 at 02:21:42PM -0800, Guido van Rossum wrote:
>      >    On Fri, Dec 9, 2011 at 12:26 PM, Cedric Sodhi
>      <[1][2]manday at gmx.net> wrote:
>      >
>      >      IF YOU THINK YOU MUST REPLY SOMETHING WITTY, ITERATE THAT THIS
>      HAD BEEN
>      >      DISCUSSED BEFORE, REPLY THAT "IT'S SIMPLY NOT GO'NNA HAPPEN",
>      THAT "WHO
>      >      DOESN'T LIKE IT IS FREE TO CHOOSE ANOTHER LANGUAGE" OR SOMETHING
>      >      SIMILAR, JUST DON'T.
>      >
>      >    Every single response in this thread so far has ignored this
>      request. The
>      >    correct response honoring this should have been deafening silence.
>      >
>      >    For me, if I had to design a new language today, I would probably
>      use
>      >    braces, not because they're better than whitespace, but because
>      pretty
>      >    much every other lanugage uses them, and there are more interesting
>      >    concepts to distinguish a new language. That said, I don't regret
>      that
>      >    Python uses indentation, and the rest I have to say about the topic
>      would
>      >    violate the above request.
>      >
> 
>      I think this deserves a reply. Thank you for contributing your opinion
>      and respecting my request and therefore honoring the rules of a
>      civilized debate.
> 
>      -- Cedric
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