What makes code "readable"? (was Re:Python vs. Perl, which i

[Sean 'Shaleh' Perry]

>> The real issue with Perl is probably the degree to which
>> punctuation characters are not used *as* punctuation, but
>> rather as *words* in their own right.  
>>[....]
>> Another useful criterion (probably a bigger deal for more
>> auditory-oriented folks) is "can you pronounce it?".
> 
> Yes!  It's perhaps a little known fact that most people 
> read "verbally", by pronouncing the words in their heads
> at least in an accelerated fashion.  If you can't hear
> the words, you get that "then we compare _hmm_ with _hmm_ 
> and then _hmm_ _hmm_ _hmm_ ..."  that you described.
> Excellent point.
> 
>> where each "_hmm_" is me losing my verbal focus, and
>> substituting some unpronounceable concept. Since it's
>> not associated with a word, it's harder to keep track
>> of in your head, so it's probably easier to forget
>> what you're doing.  
> 

this makes total sense.  Several of the people that I know who love perl think
of the punctuation marks are markers and declensions in natural language.

$foo->{bar} to them reads "foo's object bar" and they do this near naturally
just like we know (think this is a parenthetical aside) how to split our
attention when reading plays and the like.

of course I do not read this way and find perl hard to deal with.