Case sensitivity

[M.-A. Lemburg]

Alex Martelli wrote:
> On Tuesday 25 February 2003 10:31 am, M.-A. Lemburg wrote:
 >
>>Seriously, I don't see the point in this discussion.
> 
> Take it up with the people who started the thread, then kept
> calling me directly to answer in it, and are now keeping it alive
> by asserting things I consider false, such as the "fact" (?) that
> case sensitivity "enforces a convention" when it clearly does
> not.  I don't see the point in this thread existing at all, either,
> but there is always "a point" in indicating when assertions are
> counter-factual -- avoiding the risk that new readers, not
> familiar with the previous rounds of the same discussion, become
> erroneoneusly convinced of such falsehoods.

Ok, you have a meta-point there.

> No doubt this thread will peter out again eventually, as all
> things must, either when some people stop asserting things
> that just aren't so, or when others convince themselves that
> the confutations to the falsehoods have been established in
> a sufficiently clear manner, or simply grow too bored of the
> whole mess.  At that point, I believe no good at all will have
> been served, and much time and energy wasted, by the whole
> thread's existence. 

Indeed.

> <shrug> I didn't start the thread, and I
> don't think it's reasonable to demand that I let such beauties
> as that "enforcing" idea stand unchallenged to confuse and
> mislead new readers.
> 
> A minor wart in a free, useful language is still a wart, and in
> my opinion it serves no purpose to pretend it isn't, even though
> it will never be fixed.

True, but I wouldn't call this "wart" -- some people may feel
that a certain way of using case in identifiers is the right
way, while others feel it's wrong. That's a matter of taste,
not one of language deficiency as the term "wart" would hint
at. Minor point, though.

Cheers,
-- 
Marc-Andre Lemburg
eGenix.com

Professional Python Software directly from the Source  (#1, Feb 25 2003)
 >>> Python/Zope Products & Consulting ...         http://www.egenix.com/
 >>> mxODBC, mxDateTime, mxTextTools ...        http://python.egenix.com/
________________________________________________________________________
Python UK 2003, Oxford:                                     35 days left
EuroPython 2003, Charleroi, Belgium:                       119 days left