What does "Sparse is better than dense" mean? (Python Zen)

[Ian Bicking]

On Sat, 2002-07-13 at 06:37, Opus wrote:
> As for the nicest formated languages for reading, coding and debugging, I would 
> have to say that my experience with 4Test (the language developed by Segue for 
> QA Partner and Silk) was the best I have had.  It required that you use the IDE 
> (you could use a text editor if you really wanted, but why?) to enter code.  
> The IDE and the language supported collapsible blocks.  When you were coding, 
> it automaticly indented for you, and showed a [-] next to the line to show that 
> you could collapse it.  A [+] showed that you could expand it.  The IDE also 
> had options to expand and collapse the current block, all sub blocks, and the 
> entire file.  Because it was saved as a text file that was then checked into a 
> repository, it was a company standard to collapse all blocks before checking it 
> in.  

The Oberon system had something like this as well, though I believe only
for larger blocks (functions, classes, etc.) and not control structures.

One thing I wonder... would it be possible to use Emacs outline mode
with the python mode, so that every syntactic : is a level in the
outline? (well... I'm sure it's possible, but has anyone already done
it?)

  Ian