another newbie question

[Roy Smith]

In article <mailman.986.1289747396.2218.python-list at python.org>,
 David <bouncingcats at gmail.com> wrote:

> On 15/11/2010, otenki <scott.stephens.j at gmail.com> wrote:
> > When I enter 'from _future_ import division' at the command
> > line, I get the ImportError, no module named _future_.
> 
> The module name is "__future__"
> 
> Notice that there are 2 underscore characters before the word "future"
> and 2 after it. This is a common convention in python.

I suppose the double-underscore convention was a questionable choice, 
given how many fixed width fonts make it difficult to discern the gap 
between them.  In fact, in most fonts, it's an intentional design goal 
that they run together (think of it as a sort of recurisive ligature).  
That being said, it is what it is, and isn't changing.

I'm really picky about what font I use for coding.  For years, I've 
stuck to Apple's Monaco, antialised.  In the latest version of the OS 
(Snow Leopard), they added a new font called Menio.  When I first looked 
at it, I couldn't tell the difference, and decided to stick with Monaco.  
I just opened up TextEdit and tried looking at __ (double underscore) in 
various fonts.  Lo and behold, you can see the gap in Monaco, and the 
two run completely together in Menio.

I'm still searching for as nice a font to use on Linux.

Then, there are people who try to program in proportional fonts.  The 
mind boggles.  For a (thankfully short) while some years ago, people 
were publishing programming books with the code samples in proportional 
fonts.  Blech.