Code density

[Dave Benjamin]

j_mckitrick wrote:
> When I was reading the PEP for code, Guido suggests using blank lines
> 'sparingly.'  Yet, in most of the 'professional' code(1) I've seen,
> there are often HUGE amounts of whitespace, extra blank lines, and so
> on.  Is this the norm?

Take a look at the modules included with the Python standard library. I 
think you'll find that whitespace is used conservatively, but 
appropriately. I tend to use more whitespace than most of this code, 
however.

I believe Guido likes a blank line after the "class" statement. I tried 
this for a little while, but it felt like a special case, like the "one 
true brace" policy. On the other hand, I don't like double-linebreaks 
anywhere, but this seems to be pretty common with Python code (to 
separate function or class definitions). I also tend to line a lot of 
things up vertically, which Guido says is one of his pet peeves. =)

> Has python gravitated toward more whitespace in general?

Python ignores whitespace, except where it is significant. As far as 
Python programmers ;) I'd say it's a toss-up. I doubt you'll find 
consensus here.

Cheers,
Dave