Speaking Python

[Tim Churches]

On Tue, 2003-10-14 at 06:02, David Mertz wrote:
> In the endless Lisp/macro threads, Alex Martelli mentioned something a
> bit interesting about screen-reading applications.  Specifically, he
> expressed reservations about whether Python would be a good language for
> visually impaired or blind programmers.
> 
> The concern, I think, is that pronouncing
> 'space-space-space-space-space-space-space-space' isn't all that easy to
> follow if spoken with every line.  Even a reduced form like
> "eight-spaces' isn't perfect either.  Actually, a symmetric concern is
> with voice recognition applications--perhaps for people with motor
> disabilities.

You are assuming that blind programmers use speech synthesisers to
review or manipulate code. I've only met one blind programmer, and he
used an electromechanical Braille interface, which presented a single
line of text at a time, a bit like ed and other line-oriented text
editors. See
http://www.professional-vision-services.co.uk/pvs-page16.htm for an
example of such a terminal. I would imagine that the block structure of
Python might be a bonus, not a drawback, when using such line-by-line
interfaces. Of course, there is a strong case to be made for using tab
characters not spaces for the indenting, to conserve valuable character
slots on each line. But that's not a problem for Python. This is all
speculation, of course, but try editing some Python code with ed or
other line-oriented editor. The indentation definitely helps, not
hinders.

> My feeling is that a good vocal Python programming editor would need to
> know a bit about the structure of the language. 

I wonder if pitch or tone of the synthesised voice could be used to
indicate the indentation level of each line?

-- 

Tim C

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