case-sensitivity

[Alex Martelli]

Ron Adam wrote:
   ...
> If an option for case insensitivity were implemented it would just be
> a matter of doing a lower() function on all source code as a first
> step in the compile process.  Then case in the source code need not
> matter, or you could choose to have it matter if that's what you want.
> It probably isn't that simple.   I haven't looked into the source code
> far enough yet.   Doing so would probably cause errors in existing
> programs where names do use same spelling/different case for different

And all uses of standard Python modules such as random and fileinput, 
which do exactly that sort of thing systematically.

> Using a case correcting editor is one way of doing it that doesn't
> change pythons core and lets the programmer choose the behavior they
> want.

Nope, can't do.  Consider:

>>> import random
>>> x=random.Random()
>>> y=random.random()

now x and y are two VERY different things:

>>> x
<random.Random object at 0x81aa9d4>
>>> y
0.93572104869999828

...but how would a poor "case correcting editor" distinguish them...?

Such a smart editor might HELP a little by SUGGESTING a case-correction
when it appears unambiguous, even just for standard modules and the
functions therein.  Maybe a menu-command for "suggest case corrections
if any" WOULD be helpful in IDLE, and offer good cost/benefit ratio as
a fun, not-too-terribly-hard project reducing human misery a bit...:-).


Alex