[Python-ideas] Implicit string literal concatenation considered harmful?

[Michael Foord]

On 10 May 2013 20:16, Antoine Pitrou <solipsis at pitrou.net> wrote:

> On Fri, 10 May 2013 11:48:51 -0700
> Guido van Rossum <guido at python.org> wrote:
> > I just spent a few minutes staring at a bug caused by a missing comma
> > -- I got a mysterious argument count error because instead of foo('a',
> > 'b') I had written foo('a' 'b').
> >
> > This is a fairly common mistake, and IIRC at Google we even had a lint
> > rule against this (there was also a Python dialect used for some
> > specific purpose where this was explicitly forbidden).
> >
> > Now, with modern compiler technology, we can (and in fact do) evaluate
> > compile-time string literal concatenation with the '+' operator, so
> > there's really no reason to support 'a' 'b' any more. (The reason was
> > always rather flimsy; I copied it from C but the reason why it's
> > needed there doesn't really apply to Python, as it is mostly useful
> > inside macros.)
> >
> > Would it be reasonable to start deprecating this and eventually remove
> > it from the language?
>
> I'm rather -1. It's quite convenient and I don't want to add some '+'
> signs everywhere I use it. I'm sure many people also have long string
> literals out there and will have to endure the pain of a dull task to
> "fix" their code.
>
> However, in your case, foo('a' 'b') could raise a SyntaxWarning, since
> the "continuation" is on the same line.
>
>

I'm with Antoine. I love using implicit concatenation for splitting long
literals across multiple lines.

Michael


> Regards
>
> Antoine.
>
>
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