Multibyte Character Surport for Python

[Alex Martelli]

Jacob Hallen wrote:

> I am Swedish and English is not my first language.
> 
> My view is that Python source code should be UTF-8, so that you can
> represent multilingual strings in a readable way. However, I still think
> that identifiers should be limited to ASCII.

I agree entirely with all of this (even though I'm Italian, not Swedish).

> I understand the attraction of using your native language for identifiers
> and comments, but it is really the dark side of the source.

I don't particularly mind about comments.  By far most comments I've read
in programs thoughout my life were bogus anyway -- redundant reminders
of what language rules mandate anyway, or obsolete and thus actually
misleading rather than helpful.  I wouldn't mind a language-savvy editor's
option to hide or remove all comments - yes, I'd lose something when the
comments are actually up to date AND informative about design intentions,
but all in all I think I'd break even at worst.  OTOH, I think identifiers 
have a better track record.  Yes, a fraction of them are unhelpful or (more
rarely) actively misleading -- more often, however, i find them quite
informative and helpful in understanding what's going on in code.


Alex