[Python-Dev] pep8 reasoning

[Skip Montanaro]

On Thu, Apr 24, 2014 at 8:59 AM, Barry Warsaw <barry at python.org> wrote:
> I will say this: the original preference for underscore_names in PEP 8 was
> spurred by user studies some of our early non-native English speaking users
> conducted many years ago.  We learned that it was more difficult for many of
> them to parse mixedCase names than underscore_names.  I'm afraid I probably no
> longer have references to those studies, but the difference was pronounced,
> IIRC, and I think it's easy to see why.  Underscores can be scanned by the eye
> as spaces, while I'd hypothesize that the brain has to do more work to read
> mixedCase names.

Given Guido's background, I suspect these studies might have been done
at CWI in the context of the ABC language.

Skip