Is there anything *enjoyable* about our development process?

[Stuart D. Gathman]

On Sun, 16 Oct 2005, Thomas Bushnell BSG wrote:

> I know perfectly well what the syntax of Python is.  It is not
> white-space independent; that makes it therefore white-space
> dependent.  I cannot break lines where I please; I cannot insert or
> remove white-space where I please.

You *can* break lines where you please.  Perhaps you mean that 
most programs can't be crammed into only one line?

You can insert/remove white-space where you please - subject only
to keeping blocks indented like you would in C with any sane coding standard.

> Among other things, that makes automatically-generated python a royal
> PITA to generate.  It also means that generating python must suddenly

The C way to output a begin block:

	putc('{');

The Python way to output a begin block:

	++indent

> be context dependent in a really ugly way: a given snippet of code
> cannot simply be included anywhere; it must be very carefully indented
> to match its context.

As for manually pasting snippets, I don't know what editor you use, but I just
type 'p' in Vim, and the Python snippet gets pasted with an indent to match the
context.

Anyhow, while I dislike the specious arguments, I'm not trying to
push Python.  How about Ruby then?  Smalltalk semantics, more
traditional block notation.  Has Smalltalk style anonymous executable "blocks"
as well - so nice for making callbacks easy and painless.  Available
by default in most distros.

-- 
	      Stuart D. Gathman <stuart at bmsi.com>
    Business Management Systems Inc.  Phone: 703 591-0911 Fax: 703 591-6154
"Confutatis maledictis, flamis acribus addictis" - background song for
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