PEP308: a call for usability studies (was Re: Update to PEP308: if-then-else expression)

[Peter Hansen]

Erik Max Francis wrote:
> 
> Peter Hansen wrote:
> 
> > I have access to an innocent (as in largely unexposed to the
> > discussion
> > about PEP308 and its alternative) group of Python programmers at work,
> > specifically eight of them.  They have a wide variety of backgrounds,
> > most with some C, all but one with at least two languages other than
> > Python.
> 
> I don't really know how much weight should be afforded to a straw poll
> involving only eight people, but if people feel it would be instructive,
> go for it.

Perhaps we understand the term "straw poll" differently, but that
wasn't what I intended.  dict.org defines that as "an unofficial 
vote taken to determine opinion on some issue".  I was suggesting
something that involved neither votes nor opinions.  I had hoped
the term "study" would suggest that more strongly.

I agree the results might not carry much weight, but on the other
hand I've found Carel's comments somewhat more helpful in certain
respects than two hundred other messages I've read which had lots of
opinion but little or no attempt at objective study.

-Peter