Language change (was RE: iterators (was: python-dev summary))

[Grant Griffin]

In article <96qh2f$962$1 at 216.39.151.169>, Donn says...
>
>Quoth Grant Griffin <not.this at seebelow.org>:
>
>| Guilty as charged!  If my implied compliment wasn't received here,
>| consider it given!  I have said this before: Genius is the art of
>| simplicity, and Python is a work of great simplicity.
>
>I don't know how to say this, but I think it isn't just the language -
>I'm afraid we're simple too.  Even though we didn't create it, we who
>use the language are an important part of the phenomenon.

Good point.  I personally think of myself as "simple" but somewhat "wise". 
(Then again, aren't the wisest people mostly pretty simple anyway? <wink>)  The
wisdom comes in knowing one's limitations--and in actively seeking things like
Python that help.

>Our simple-
>minded, numb tolerance for expressions like "while 1",

I recently figured out (I think) that one the *really* bad thing about do/until
in Python is that it doesn't work with Python's block style.  (In fact, if you
think about it, even in C/C++ do/until a little strange in being the only thing
that has an expression at the _end_ of the block!)

If language design is a compromise, and this compromise frees me from braces,
I'm a happy camper.

>our willingness
>to write out "self" just to disambiguate namespaces,...

If that were the _only_ reason, it might not be so great.  But you're talking to
the guy who actually _likes_ "self.", as a replacement for the "m_" notation he
uses in C++ to mark class member variables.  (True, I sometimes wake up
screaming in the middle of the night about those extra three characters Python's
convention makes me type.  But then I tell myself that I could have used "m." if
I had really wanted to. <wink>)

>...our uncritical
>acceptance of incomplete OO-ness,

But some of us _like_ a mixed OO/procedural paradigm.  (Although "math.sin(x)"
sure does read a little fishy...)

>make it possible for a language
>like Python to thrive.  What are we, techno-peasants or something?

<grin>  I prefer to think of us more as thirsty horses being lead to water.

which-is-not-to-say-we'll-all-drink-*everything*-we're
   -lead-to-<wink>-ly y'rs

=g2

_____________________________________________________________________

Grant R. Griffin                                       g2 at dspguru.com
Publisher of dspGuru                           http://www.dspguru.com
Iowegian International Corporation            http://www.iowegian.com