[Python-ideas] Visually confusable unicode characters in identifiers

[Stephen J. Turnbull]

Ben Finney writes:

 > "Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen at xemacs.org>
 > writes:
 > 
 > > I still let either TeX or XEmacs translate TeX macros for me. I don't
 > > even know how to type an integral sign in Mac OS X Terminal
 > > (conveniently, that is -- of course there's always the character
 > > palette), and if I wanted directed quotation marks (I don't), I'd just
 > > use ASCII quotes and let XEmacs translate those, too.
 > 
 > Right. So you've solved it for one program only, not the OS

You seem to be under a misconception.  Emacs *is* an OS, it just runs
on top of the more primitive OSes normally associated with the term. ;-)

 > I'm saying the OS is the right place to solve it, by installing an
 > appropriate input method (or whatever each OS calls them).

I doubt very many people used to and fond of LaTeX would agree with
you, since AFAIK there aren't any OSes providing TeX macros as an
input method.  AFAICS it's not available on my Mac.

While I don't particularly favor it, it may be the best compromise, as
many people are familiar with it, and many many symbols are available
with familiar, intuitive names so that non-TeXnical typists can often
guess them.