QOTW [was Re: Attack a sacred Python Cow]

[Russ P.]

On Jul 28, 7:07 am, Steven D'Aprano <st... at REMOVE-THIS-
cybersource.com.au> wrote:
> On Sun, 27 Jul 2008 21:42:37 -0700, Russ P. wrote:
> >> +1 QOTW
>
> > Do you realize what an insult that is to everyone else who has posted
> > here in the past week?
>
> Actually I don't. I hadn't realised that when a person believes that
> somebody has made an especially clever, witty, insightful or fun remark,
> that's actually a put-down of all the other people whose remarks weren't
> quite as clever, witty, insightful or fun.
>
> But now that I've had this pointed out to me, why, I see insults
> everywhere! Tonight, my wife said to me that she liked my new shirt, so I
> replied "What's the matter, you think my trousers are ugly?"
>
> --
> Steven

That would all be true if the comment that was called "QOTW" was
indeed clever or, for that matter, true. It was neither.

The idea that Python does not try to discourage bad programming
practice is just plain wrong. Ask yourself why Python doesn't allow
assignment within a conditional test ("if x = 0"), for example. Or,
why it doesn't allow "i++" or "++i"? I'll leave it as an exercise for
the reader to give more examples.

Also, the whole idea of using indentation to define the logical
structure of the code is really a way to ensure that the indentation
structure is consistent with the logical structure. Now, is that a way
to "encourage good practice," or is it a way to "discourage bad
practice"? The notion that the two concepts are "very different" (as
the "QOTW" claimed) is just plain nonsense.