[Python-ideas] PEP 572: Statement-Local Name Bindings

[Paul Moore]

On 28 February 2018 at 21:48, Robert Vanden Eynde <robertve92 at gmail.com> wrote:
> We are currently like a dozen of people talking about multiple sections of a
> single subject.
>
> Isn't it easier to talk on a forum?

Not for me, certainly. I could probably learn how to effectively work
with a forum, but as of right now, if this discussion switched to a
forum, I'd be unable to follow the discussion, and would likely not
contribute.

And whether I'd actually take the time to learn how to work with a
forum is debatable (there are many different forms of forum software,
and learning a new interface for each discussion group isn't effective
for me. Conversely, with mailing lists, I just use the one interface,
gmail).

> Am I the only one who thinks mailing list isn't easy when lots of people
> talking about multiple subjects?

Possibly not, but a lot of participants have invested time in learning
how to work effectively with mailing lists. IMO, a forum prioritises
occasional use and newcomers, while penalising long-term and in-depth
use.

> Of course we would put the link in the mailing list so that everyone can
> join.

But the discussion would still be taking place in 2 locations, which
would make it even harder to follow. Unless you plan on shutting down
the list?

> A forum (or just few "issues" thread on github) is where we could have
> different thread in parallel, in my messages I end up with like 10 comments
> not all related, in a forum we could talk about everything and it would
> still be organized by subjects.

Conversely, interested parties would find it harder by default to read
all of the discussion on the subject of PEP 572. Rather than flagging
*one* thread as important, we'd be relying on having the PEP number in
the subject of multiple topics, and searching.

> Also, it's more interactive than email on a global list, people can talk to
> each other in parallel, if I want to answer about a mail that was 10 mail
> ago, it gets quickly messy.

No, you just reply to that mail. You may lose some of the intermediate
comments by doing so, but that happens however you organise the
discussion. You're choosing to branch out the discussion from an older
point.

> We could all discuss on a gist or some "Issues" thread on GitHub.

Not everyone can access gists or github. My work network blocks gists
as "personal storage", for example.

Paul