First day beginner to python, add to counter after nested loop

Alister alister.ware at ntlworld.com
Wed Oct 30 10:22:50 EDT 2013


On Wed, 30 Oct 2013 13:42:37 +0100, Antoon Pardon wrote:

> Op 30-10-13 13:17, Chris Angelico schreef:
>> On Wed, Oct 30, 2013 at 11:01 PM, Antoon Pardon
>> <antoon.pardon at rece.vub.ac.be> wrote:
>> I broadly agree with your post (I'm of the school of thought that
>> braces are better than indentation for delimiting blocks), but I don't
>> think this argument holds water. All you need to do is be consistent
>> about tabs OR spaces (and I'd recommend tabs, since they're simpler and
>> safer), and you'll never have this trouble.
> 
> Easier said than done. First of all I can be as consistent as possible,
> I can't just take code from someone else and insert it because that
> other person may be consistenly doing it different from me.

I disagree it is very easy.

1) make sure you editor is set to inset 4 spaces rather than tab when 
pressing the tab key. consistency in your own code is now not an issue.

2) when importing code from someone else a simple search & replace of tab 
with 4 spaces will instantly correct the formatting on code using tab 
without breaking code that doesn't.


> 
> Then if you are working on different machines, the settings of your
> editor may not always be the same so that you have tabs on one machine
> and spaces on an other, which causes problem when you move the code.
> 
that is fixed by setting your environment consistantly but step 2 above 
will fix it if you forget.

> Also when you have an xterm, selecting a tab and pasting it into another
> it will turn the tab into spaces.

Read pep 11 & always use 4 spaces for indentation not tab.

> 
> All these things usually can be ignored, they typically only show up
> when you print something and things aren't aligned as you expect but
> with python you are forced to correct those things immediately, forcing
> you to focus on white space layout issues instead of on the logic of the
> code.
> 
>> Also, the parser should tell you if you mix tabs and spaces, so that
>> won't trip anything either.
> 
> Maybe you mean something different than I understand but a program
> throwing a syntax error because there is a tab instead of a number of
> spaces or vice versa, is something I would understand as tripping.

no more than failing to close a brace in a C like language
indentation is the syntax of python you will grow to love it, like most 
people I found it distracting at first even though i tended to indent 
other code (inconsistently)to make it readable.




-- 
I am what you will be; I was what you are.



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