[Python-Dev] Python 1.7 tokenization feature request

[Paul Prescod]

gvwilson@nevex.com wrote:
> 
> 'S funny --- my non-programmer friends can't figure out why any sane
> person would use a glorified glass TTY like emacs... or why they should
> have to, just to program... I just think that someone's going to do this
> for some language, some time soon, and I'd rather Python be in the lead
> than play catch-up.

Your goal is worth pursuing but I agree with the others that the syntax
change is not the right way.

It _is_ possible to teach XMetaL to edit Python programs -- structurally
-- just as it does XML. What you do is hook into the macro engine (which
already supports Python) and use the Python tokenizer to build a parse
tree. You copy that into a DOM using the same elements and attributes
you would use if you were doing some kind of batch conversion. Then on
"save" you reverse the process. Implementation time: ~3 days.

The XMetaL competitor, Documentor has an API specifically designed to
make this sort of thing easy.

Making either of them into a friendly programmer's editor is a much
larger task. I think this is where the majority of the R&D should occur,
not at the syntax level. If one invents a fundamentally better way of
working with the structures behind Python code, then it would be
relatively easy to write code that maps that to today's Python syntax.

-- 
 Paul Prescod  - ISOGEN Consulting Engineer speaking for himself
Out of timber so crooked as that which man is made nothing entirely
straight can be built. - Immanuel Kant