Significant whitespace

[Mensanator]

On Jan 2, 4:19 pm, Emile van Sebille <em... at fenx.com> wrote:
> On 1/1/2010 5:05 PM Steven D'Aprano said...
>
> > In Python terms, imagine if we could write
>
> >      foriinrange(10):
>
> > instead of the usual
>
> >      for i in range(10):
>
> > Since the colon makes it unambiguous that it is some sort of block
> > construct, and it starts with "for", it must be a for loop. Pretty
> > horrible, yes?
>
> Yes -- early on I got stung by something similar.  My first programming
> job (1977?) was working in a basic dialect called Buisness Basic Level
> II (BBII).  To delete a record in the file you used a remove statement.
>   White space on the line was optional, allowing you to write lines like
> '100 remove(1,key=k$)' and '100 fori=1to10'.  REM was how a remark
> statement began, which allowed statements like "100 REM comment".  I was
> sent on-site to a customer running the prior version (BBI).  I didn't
> realize the REMOVE command changed between versions from REKEY, and it
> was only after a more experienced programmer co-wroker pointed out that
> my REMOVE statement was being interpreted as a REM that I finally found
> the bug I'd created.

Better than the other way 'round, eh?

>
> Manuals and documentation, while often lacking, are as often underrated.
>
> Emile