Case-sensitivity: why -- or why not? (was Re: Damnation!)

[Robin Becker]

In article <slrn8ikrtj.48f.bwinton at tor.dhs.org>, Blake Winton
<bwinton at tor.dhs.org> writes
....
>
>Well, there we go.  Perhaps we can have something which is neither
>case-sensitive, nor case-insensitive, based on the following principles.
>1) Your variables can be named anything you want.
>2) Any variable which differs from a preceeding one only by case
>   generates an error.
...
I want to maintain full case sensitivity; algebra is taught that way,
English is taught that way; why not Python? I explicitly want to code
stuff like

        for s in S:
                ....

        foo = Foo()

        initial = INITIAL

I never regarded case insensitivity or otherwise as being anything to do
with the style or otherwise of how variables are named. It's a
convenience that initialValue is slightly more readable than
initialvalue.

The whole argument that, for a short term gain in popularity amongst
toddlers or whatever, you should dumb down a good programming language
seems pretty flawed to me. Give them a dumbed down language and leave
the standard language to be used by more advanced users. Others have
already mentioned the studies on what the correct 'style' of programming
language should be (oo or otherwise).

I started writing with non joined up letters and progressed to cursive
non capitals etc etc. If Python is the CP4E language, just what is the
lower IQ level for inclusion in E?
-- 
Robin Becker