[Python-Dev] PEP 340: syntax suggestion - try opening(filename) as f:

[Ka-Ping Yee]

On Fri, 29 Apr 2005, Guido van Rossum wrote:
> The more I think about it the more I like having no keyword at all
> (see other messages).

I hope you'll reconsider this.  I really think introducing a new
statement requires a keyword, for pedagogical reasons as well as
readability and consistency.  Here's my pitch:

All the statements in Python are associated with keywords, except
for assignment, which is simple and extremely common.  I don't
think the block statement is simple enough or common enough for
that; its semantics are much too significant to be flagged only
by a little punctuation mark like a colon.

I can empathize with wanting to avoid a keyword in order to
avoid an endless debate about what the keyword will be.  But
that debate can't be avoided anyway -- we still have to agree
on what to call this thing when talking about it and teaching it.

The keyword gives us a name, a conceptual tag from which to hang
our knowledge and discussions.  Once we have a keyword, there
can be no confusion about what to call the construct.  And if
there is a distinctive keyword, a Python programmer who comes
across this unfamiliar construct will be able to ask someone
"What does this 'spam' keyword mean?" or can search on Google for
"Python spam" to find out what it means.  Without a keyword,
they're out of luck.  Names are power.


-- ?!ng