Python is readable

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Fri, 16 Mar 2012 00:46:35 +0100, Kiuhnm wrote:

> On 3/16/2012 0:00, Arnaud Delobelle wrote:
>> On 15 March 2012 22:35, Ben Finney<ben+python at benfinney.id.au>  wrote:
>>> Kiuhnm<kiuhnm03.4t.yahoo.it>  writes:
>>>
>>>> Moreover, I think that
>>>>    if (............
>>>>        ............
>>>>        ............):
>>>>        ............
>>>>        ............
>>>>        ............
>>>> is not very readable anyway.
>>>
>>> I agree, and am glad PEP 8 has been updated to recommend an extra
>>> level of indentation for continuation, to distinguish from the new
>>> block that
>>> follows<URL:http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0008/#indentation>.
>>
>> Personally I solve this by never writing if conditions that span more
>> than one line.  If the worst comes to the worst, I would write:
>>
>> aptly_named_condition = (
>>      very long condition
>>      that goes over
>>      plenty of lines
>> )
>> if aptly_named_condition:
>>      do stuff
> 
> Will I be able to use extra indentation in Python code? For instance,
> 
>    res = and(or(cond1,
>                 cond2),
>              cond3,
>              or(and(cond4,
>                     cond5,
>                     cond6),
>                 and(cond7,
>                     cond8)))

Not that exact example, because `and` and `or` are operators, not 
functions and you will get a syntax error. Python uses infix notation, 
not prefix or postfix:

    x and y    # yes
    and(x, y)  # no
    x y and    # no


But in general, yes, you can use whatever indentation you like inside a 
line-continuation bracket:

py> x = [
...     1, 2, 3,
... 4, 5, 6,
...                             7, 8, 9,
...         10, 11, 12,
...       13, 14, 15
... ]
py> x
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15]


Indentation is only syntactically significant in blocks and statements.


 
> I like it because it reads like a tree.

Funny. I dislike it because it is a tree on its side.



-- 
Steven