[SLL] enforced white space

[nicafyl]

On Thu, Jan 15, 2009 at 8:03 PM, Chuck Wolber <chuckw at quantumlinux.com>wrote:

> On Thu, 15 Jan 2009, Brian C. Lane wrote:
>
> > All languages enforce formatting rules to one degree or another.
>
> You mean parsing? Like with semi-colons and brackets etc? That's a
> tokenizing issue, not a formatting issue.

Does that matter? That is, when you are writing code, there are some
"rules". For example, in Fortran of old, your code started in column seven.
If you are writing a compiler or interpreter, you are well aware of what you
must do to translate what is written into what is executed. You know what is
parsing, for example.
But, if you are "just writing code" you have no need to separate the rules
into types. It is just "you gotta do X to end a block".

>
> > In the specific case of Python using spaces to delimit blocks makes the
> > code much easier to follow in many circumstances.
>
> That is subjective.
>
I, for one, objected when I first started looking at Python. It just "didn't
seem normal". But, having read a lot and even talked to Guido about it, it
started seeming "ok". Now that I have written Python for years, it feels
downright natural. But, more important, my experience has taught me that
more often than not, if my program looks right it also works right.
After years of writing C and then having to find a misplaced brace that made
things work not the way it looked like it should work, I have to agree with
the "easier to follow" suggestion.

>
> > You shouldn't let Python's indentation keep you from exploring the
> > language. That's kinda like throwing the baby out with the bathwater ;)
>
> Point taken ;)
>
>
> ..Ch:W..
>
> --
> http://www.quantumlinux.com                 | "An idea does not gain
>  Quantum Linux Laboratories, LLC.           |  truth as it gains
>  ACCELERATING Business with Open Technology |  followers." Amanda Bloom
>



-- 
Phil Hughes
nicafyl at gmail.com -- phil at ctpni.com