[Python-ideas] String interpolation for all literal strings

[Terry Reedy]

On 8/6/2015 1:23 AM, Nick Coghlan wrote:

I prefer a symbol over an 'f' that is too similar to other prefix letters.

> Pondering the fact that "\N{GREEK LETTER ALPHA}",
> "{ref}".format_map(data), f"\{ref}" and string.Template("${ref}") all
> overload on "{}" as their parenthetical pair gave me an idea.
>
> Since we're effectively defining a "string display" (which will
> hopefully remain clearly independent of normal string literals), what
> if we were to bake internationalisation and localisation directly into
> this PEP, such that, by default, these new strings would be flagged
> for translation, and translations could change the *order* in which
> subexpressions were displayed, but not the *content* of those
> subexpressions?

For internationalising Idle's menu, lines like

  (!'file', [
    (!'_New File', '<<open-new-window>>'),
    (!'_Open...', '<<open-window-from-file>>'),
    (!'Open _Module...', '<<open-module>>'),
    (!'Class _Browser', '<<open-class-browser>>'),
    (!'_Path Browser', '<<open-path-browser>>'),
   ...
    + another 50 lines of menu definition

are *much* easier to type, read, and proofread than

  (_('file'), [
    (_('_New File'), '<<open-new-window>>'),
    (_('_Open...'), '<<open-window-from-file>>'),
    (_('Open _Module...'), '<<open-module>>'),
    (_('Class _Browser'), '<<open-class-browser>>'),
    (_('_Path Browser'), '<<open-path-browser>>'),--
    ... + 50 similar lines

The obnoxiousness of the latter, which literally makes me dizzy to read, 
was half my opposition to 'preparing' Idle for a use that might or might 
not ever happen.  If there were a switch to just ignore the ! prefix, 
leaving no runtime cost, then I would be even happier with adding the !s 
and telling people, 'ok, go ahead and prepare translations and Idle is 
ready to go'.

Terry Jan Reedy