Alien whitespace eating nanovirus strikes again!

[Mark Hammond]

Aahz Maruch wrote:
>I disagree with your parenthetical comment.  I wouldn't call myself an
>"expert" Python programmer by any stretch of the imagination, but I've
>written a fair bit of it in connection with a multi-person project over
>the past four months.  As a seasoned programmer of many years and many
>languages, I've disagreed with almost all the whines that have been
>brought against Python (e.g. the stupid "=" vs. "==" thread), but this
>is one point that still annoys me.

Of course, this is your HO.  Many other people (including myself) found that
a few weeks in, they thought "this is great", and many years later, can't
believe that other language still hold on to the "old ways".  When I take a
quick look at some of the new little languages referenced on this newsgroup,
believe it or not, my _first_ reaction is "God those block closers are
stupid and ugly" :-)

Of course, I see and understand you concern, but I dont share it.  My guess,
from newgroup postings and anecdotal evidence, is that most seasoned
programmers also do not share it.

>code (which is what I've mostly been doing).  But the whitespace problem
>is a real PITA when it comes time to make a change to the structure of a
>program -- it's an investment I don't mind making when I'm doing "real"

Not to me.  If I make structural changes to C or other programs, I always
re-indent the reorganised code correctly, and I would bet that you do too.
In almost all languages block indenting is _very_ important to the human
reader.

Further, when indenting the new C/whatever code, I attempt to keep the
tabs/space usage correct (surprise surprise - not :-) so that other editors
still display the code correctly - there isnt much more annoying than seeing
_any_ code (Python or otherwise) incorrectly indented.

So, for me anyway, I tend to do _exactly_ what I do with Python with any
language.  The only difference I can see is that other languages force me to
use redundant block delimiters.

Mark.