Flames over division vs. case-sensitivity (was Re: Language change and code breaks)

[Aahz Maruch]

In article <slrn9lubft.2qag.kamikaze at kuoi.asui.uidaho.edu>,
Mark 'Kamikaze' Hughes <kamikaze at kuoi.asui.uidaho.edu> wrote:
>Wed, 25 Jul 2001 05:29:41 GMT in <cpofq9a858.fsf at cj20424-a.reston1.va.home.com>,
>Guido van Rossum <guido at python.org> spake:
>>
>> But never mind, I'm giving up on making *Python* case-insensitive.
>> The hostility of the user community is frightening.
>
>  This baffles me; the division issue is IMO far more terrifying a
>change, while case-insensitive is a mere quirk.

There are at least a couple of reasons for this, I think.  One is that at
least in perception, the case-sensitivity issue affects many more people.
Another is that case-sensitivity is a visual issue, and one that many
people have opinions about because there are multiple clear examples of
this difference in action.  I think that only the hard-core number
crunchers get their panties in a wad over the division issue directly,
and I think a lot of people fail to see how insidious that problem could
be if not handled correctly.
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