Whitespace as syntax (was Re: Python Rocks!)

[wolf at one.net]

Thomas Hamelryck <thamelry at vub.ac.be> wrote:

>I am in exactly the same position. It was a serious design error.
>I wonder how the CP4A people are going to explain to complete
>computer illiterates that a python program can contain errors that
>are _not even visible_ when you look at the code. 

Probably the same way C programmers explain that a C program can
contain errors that are _not even visible_ when you look at the code. 

The kind of errors produced by incorrect indentation are exactly the
same kind produced by misplaced braces. Or misbehaved pointers... :)

Just for the record I think Python's indentation as code blocking is a
*marvelous* idea. It does require an editor smart enough to translate
tabs into x # of spaces, but surely that's not too great a stretch for
any editor on any OS these days?

It also requires a bit of programmer discipline, but surely beginning
programmers should learn good habits from the beginning? And of course
Python will pretty much lay the code formatting religous wars to rest!
Respectfully,

Wolf

"The world is my home, it's just that some rooms are draftier than
others". -- Wolf