ANN: Dao Language v.0.9.6-beta is release!

[Ben Sizer]

JohnBMudd at gmail.com wrote:
> > a decent description or tutorial...  is better
>
> Sound good but...  we're programmers, not documentation specialist or
> motivational speakers.  Why, when I suggest fixing a design defect with
> code, do so many programmers want to respond with... documentation and
> arguments instead of code?

You haven't suggested fixing a design defect. You've suggested changing
part of the design. Just because a few people dislike something,
doesn't make it a defect. I dislike child-proof medicine bottles, as
they're a slight inconvenience to me, but they serve an important
purpose.

> From "The Design of Everyday Things", docs are a sign of poor design.

Firstly, it's somewhat ironic that you have to cite a documented source
to back up your point. Some things simply require being put into words.
You make your point by referring to a book; I would make the case for
scope-indentation by referring to a paragraph in the docs.

Secondly, how is this at all relevant? Do you think that adding braces
to Python will mean we can remove part of the existing documentation?
That is the only logical conclusion to draw from what you're saying.

Thirdly, is a programming language an "Everyday Thing"? Computer
programs are, yes, but languages are not. They're targeted at a very
specific audience and are geared towards a very complex task. There is
only so much simplification that can be done before a tool becomes
useless.

The context of your quote is that that things should be
self-documenting and obvious.You simply can't do that with programming
languages. All you can do is try to make it as consistent as possible,
so that there are few surprises and as little documentation as
possible. Merging scope with indentation is one good example of doing
this.

-- 
Ben Sizer