[Python-ideas] 1_000_000

[Ethan Furman]

Fred Drake wrote:
> On Fri, May 6, 2011 at 6:40 PM, Ethan Furman <ethan at stoneleaf.us> wrote:
>> The only wrinkle is that currently '_1' is usable name, and that should
>> probably be disallowed if the above change took place.
> 
> Why?  I've never seen a leading thousands separator in practice.  For example,
> 
>     ,123,456
> 
> isn't generally accepted usage, so why should
> 
>     _123_456
> 
> be considered acceptable?
> 
> (I'm not taking a position on the proposal here; just commenting on the problem
> of breaking code by making _1 a number instead of an identifier.)

I see it as a readability issue -- if you have 1_024 and _1025 (etc, 
etc), where one is a number and the other a name, confusion can easily 
result.

~Ethan~