Dreaming of new generation IDE

[Steve Holden]

bartc wrote:
> "Arnaud Delobelle" <arnodel at googlemail.com> wrote in message
> news:m28wb6ypfs.fsf at googlemail.com...
>> "Gabriel Genellina" <gagsl-py2 at yahoo.com.ar> writes:
>>
>>> En Fri, 05 Feb 2010 19:22:39 -0300, bartc <bartc at freeuk.com> escribió:
>>>> "Steve Holden" <steve at holdenweb.com> wrote in message
>>>> news:mailman.1998.1265399766.28905.python-list at python.org...
>>>>> Arnaud Delobelle wrote:
>>>>>> Robert Kern <robert.kern at gmail.com> writes:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I prefer Guido's formulation (which, naturally, I can't find a
>>>>>>> direct
>>>>>>> quote for right now): if you expect that a boolean argument is only
>>>>>>> going to take *literal* True or False, then it should be split into
>>>                      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>>>>>> two functions.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> So rather than three boolean arguments, would you have eight
>>>>>> functions?
>>>>>>
>>>>> If there's genuinely a need for that functionality, yes.
>>>>
>>>> So you want a function such as drawtext(s, bold=true, italic=false,
>>>> underline=true) to be split into:
>>>>
>>>> drawtext(s)
>>>> drawtextb(s)
>>>> drawtexti(s)
>>>> drawtextu(s)
>>>> drawtextbi(s)
>>>> drawtextbu(s)
>>>> drawtextiu(s)
>>>> drawtextbiu(s)
>>>
>>> Note the *literal* part. If you (the programmer) is likely to know the
>>> parameter value when writing the code, then the function is actually two
>>> separate functions.
>>
>> Thanks, I understand what Steve Holden meant now.
> 
> I've just noticed that 'literal' part. But I think I still disagree.
> 
> For a real-world example, it means instead of having a room with a
> light-switch in it, if I *know* I want the light on or off, I should
> have two rooms: one with the light permanently on, and one with it
> permanently off, and just walk into the right one.
> 
Congratulations.  That has to be the most bogus analogy I've seen on
c.l.py this year.

regards
 Steve
-- 
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