Guido sees the light: PEP 8 updated
Rustom Mody
rustompmody at gmail.com
Tue Apr 19 08:06:18 EDT 2016
On Tuesday, April 19, 2016 at 5:18:07 PM UTC+5:30, Marko Rauhamaa wrote:
> Paul Rudin :
>
> > Pete Forman writes:
> >> Why is it that Python continues to use a fixed width font and
> >> therefore specifies the maximum line width as a character count?
> >
> > Python doesn't require the use of any particular font for editing your
> > code.
> >
> > However programmers tend to use fixed width fonts when editing code
> > because then the visual representation of indentation works
> > consistently. But that's not a python specific thing.
>
> Prehistoric programming languages considered uppercase/lowercase
> differences insignificant variations. Most modern languages preserve the
> distinction and in fact invite us to make a difference between:
>
> BLACK
> Black
> black
>
> Why stop there?
>
> We need a PEP to distinguish also between:
>
> - typefaces (Times New Roman vs Garamond)
>
> - weights (bold vs thin)
>
> - serifs (with or without)
>
> - sizes (8pt vs 11pt)
>
> - colors (goldenrod vs maroon)
>
>
> Think of all the lesser programming languages that would seem so
> 20th-century when Python takes this step -- which virtually every
> self-respecting web site has already taken in their style sheets!
You are of course being facetious but Forth already beat you to it in Color Forth:
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/ashleyf/2013/11/02/the-beautiful-simplicity-of-colorforth/
More seriously the problem is that when we go from 100 of ASCII to 1 million
of Unicode its like a digital to analogue jump.
In http://blog.languager.org/2014/04/unicoded-python.html
Ive described that it would be nice if for instance we could write
x ≤ y in place of the clunky x <= y
Likewise x ≠ y would obviate all useless arguments between x <>y or x != y etc
But then there are a slew of lookalikes like
x ≲ y
x ≦ y
If someone seriously starts embracing unicode in program source, these
kinds of questions/issues need corresponding serious consideration.
In the same way and like colorforth, it would be better to distinguish
<font-size=huge>identifier</font>
from <font-size=normal>identifier</font>
rather than the current status of distinguishing identifier from Identifier
But then we have a slippery slope:
Should <font-size=12> be same/distinct from <font-size=13> ?
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