Python Grammar (was Re: A TYPICAL NEWBIE MISTAKE?)

[Moshe Zadka]

On Mon, 15 May 2000, Courageous wrote:

> I miss the colons all the time, too (as Mr. Pinard so
> readily pointed out.... ha). Which brings me to the topic.
> Sometimes colons seem syntactically unnecessary.

Theoretically, a colon is only necessary in things like

if yes: print "yes"

Since otherwise the parser can figure out when to stick a colon. However,
usability studies show people are more comfortable when the beginning of a
block is signaled, and I can see why:

if yes
	print "yes"

Seems....naked. Much less readable then 

if yes:
	print "yes"

Guido didn't want 10 ways (or even 2) to spell things, so the colon is
mandated for all.

--
Moshe Zadka <moshez at math.huji.ac.il>
http://www.oreilly.com/news/prescod_0300.html
http://www.linux.org.il -- we put the penguin in .com