[Python-ideas] allow `lambda' to be spelled λ

Sven R. Kunze srkunze at mail.de
Thu Jul 14 16:19:23 EDT 2016


On 14.07.2016 08:39, David Mertz wrote:
> On Wed, Jul 13, 2016 at 7:44 PM, Steven D'Aprano <steve at pearwood.info 
> <mailto:steve at pearwood.info>> wrote:
>
>     - suppose that reading λ has a *tiny* benefit of 1% over "lambda"
>       (for those who have learned what it means);
>     - but typing it is (lets say) 50 times harder than typing "lambda";
>     - but we read code 50 times as often as we type it;
>     - so the total benefit (50*1.01 - 50) is positive.
>
>
> I actually *do* think λ is a little bit more readable.  And I have no 
> idea how to type it directly on my El Capitan system with the ABC 
> Extended keyboard.  But I still get 100% of the benefit in readability 
> simply by using vim's conceal feature. If I used a different editor 
> I'd have to hope for a similar feature (or program it myself), but 
> this is purely a display question.  Similarly, I think syntax 
> highlighting makes my code much more readable, but I don't want colors 
> for keywords built into the language.  That is, and should remain, a 
> matter of tooling not core language (I don't want 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ColorForth for Python).

Very good point. That now is basically the core argument against it at 
least for me. So, -100 on the proposal from me. :)

>
> FWIW, my conceal configuration is at link I give in a moment.  I've 
> customized a bunch of special stuff besides lambda, take it or leave it:
>
> http://gnosis.cx/bin/.vim/after/syntax/python.vim
>

Nice thing. This could help those using lambda a lot (whatever reason 
they might have to do so). I will redirect it to somebody relying on vim 
heavily for Python development. Thanks. :)

> -- 
> Keeping medicines from the bloodstreams of the sick; food
> from the bellies of the hungry; books from the hands of the
> uneducated; technology from the underdeveloped; and putting
> advocates of freedom in prisons.  Intellectual property is
> to the 21st century what the slave trade was to the 16th.
>
>
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