[Python-ideas] syntax for set

[Masklinn]

On 2010-11-24, at 11:57 , Carl M. Johnson wrote:
> On Wed, Nov 24, 2010 at 12:05 AM, Mike Meyer <
> mwm-keyword-python.b4bdba at mired.org> wrote:
>> "Masklinn" <masklinn at masklinn.net> wrote:
>>> As an alternative, I would modestly propose banning integer literals
>>> altogether in favor of english-spelled constants: `ONE` can hardly be
>>> confused with the letter `l`, and having to write `FIVE HUNDRED
>>> FORTY-ONE BILLION FOUR HUNDRED FIFTY ONE MILLION NINE HUNDRED EIGHTY
>>> ONE THOUSAND NINE HUNDRED TWENTY ONE` rather than 514451981921 would
>>> surely reduce the usage of redundant magic numbers in the code.
> +1 If it's good enough for my banker when writing checks, it should be good
> enough for Python. But it might be safer if we required the Arabic numerals
> in parentheses following the English. If the two don't match, we could raise
> a CheckingError. Seems to be a basically self-documenting error type to me.

But then we're back with the possible confusion between arabic numerals and ascii characters.

Still, I think this idea is a good one, we need some kind of checksum. Maybe it could be merged with Mike's proposal: the "basic english" number is followed by the same number written using roman numerals and the two versions are checked against one another to ensure consistency.