Python as Guido Intended

[Antoon Pardon]

Op 2005-11-24, Mike Meyer schreef <mwm at mired.org>:
> Antoon Pardon <apardon at forel.vub.ac.be> writes:
>>> The usual response is "That's not the Python way." That's not calling
>>> someone dumb, just pointing out that they don't yet fully understand
>>> the Python way.
>> "That is not the Python way", is just saying "Python doesn't have it"
>> in other words. So it can't be the answer to why python can't have
>> something.
>
> No, it isn't. At least, it isn't when I use it. A language is more
> than just an accumulation of features. Well, a good language is more
> than just an accumulation of features - there's a philosophy
> underlying the language, that guides what features are added and what
> features aren't. Other languages have other philosophies, and wind up
> being good for other things.

But how this philosophy influences design is not straight forward.

The ternary operator was thought of to go against the philosopy,
and now seems to be at least compatible with the philosophy.

So when someone asks why it is not in python, saying "It is not
the python way" still doesn't answer the question, because the
person would probably still like to know what in his proposal
is against the python philosophy and why.

> When I say "That's not the Python way", I mean that such a feature
> runs counter to my vision of Python's underlying philosophy.

Fine, but it would help if you could support this with arguments
or at least give an explanation of why you think this is so.

> My vision
> isn't perfect - I've changed my mind about things: I used to want real
> macros, and I initially disliked list comprehensions. My vision
> doesn't agree with the developers - notably including Guido's - a lot
> of the time. On the other hand, they haven't done anything that
> strikes me as so wrong that I want to spend the time required working
> on Python rather than in Python to allow me to get it fixed.

I see nothing wrong with that. But I would apreciate it, should
you be more open about something being your personal vision.
To me something like: "That is not the python way" comes accross
as: "You just don't understand about python, if you ask/propose
something like that" It gives me the feeling the person is
saying something like: "Python is like this, I like it this
way, so nobody better suggests this changes".

-- 
Antoon Pardon