[Python-ideas] Make all keywords legal as an identifier

[Terry Reedy]

On 4/25/2011 3:36 PM, haael wrote:

> 2. Because of that, old Python programs cease to work, even if they do
> not use any abandoned features. Their only sin is using certain words
> that further versions of Python have stolen away.

This very fact makes us *very* reluctant to add new keywords, which I 
think is a pretty good thing.

> Solution:
> Let the parser treat all keywords that come after a dot (".") as regular
> identifiers.

I have no idea what the technical difficulties would be. However, one 
possible practical difficulty is that whether or not a name is dotted 
depends on the context.

a.py:

x = 3 # ok
as = 4 # syntax error

b.py

import a
a.x = 3 # ok
a.as = 4 # ok with your proposal, but code within a could not access it.

Same for code in the body of a class statement versus code without.

-- 
Terry Jan Reedy