[Python-ideas] Documenting Python warts

[Oleg Broytman]

On Tue, Jan 01, 2013 at 03:17:34PM -0800, alex23 <wuwei23 at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Jan 2, 8:16 am, Chris Angelico <ros... at gmail.com> wrote:
> > It's a little odd what you can and can't do,
> > until you understand the underlying system fairly well. It's something
> > that's highly unlikely to change; one of the premises would have to be
> > sacrificed (or at least modified) to achieve it.
> 
> By this definition, though, every feature of Python that someone
> doesn't understand is a wart. For a new user, mutable default
> parameters is a wart, but once you understand Python's execution &
> object models, it's just the way the language is.
> 
> Generally, I find "wart" means "something the user doesn't like about
> the language even if it makes internal sense".

   What about warts that don't have internal sense? Mutable default
parameters are just artifacts of the implementation. What is their
"internal sense"?

   Paraphrasing Alan Cooper from "The Inmates are Running the Asylum":
The phrase "experienced Python programmer" really means the person has
been hurt so many times that the scar tissue is thick enough so he no
longer feels the pain.

Oleg.
-- 
     Oleg Broytman            http://phdru.name/            phd at phdru.name
           Programmers don't die, they just GOSUB without RETURN.