New to Python - block grouping (spaces)

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Mon, 20 Apr 2015 02:03 am, Rustom Mody wrote:

> On Sunday, April 19, 2015 at 8:45:27 PM UTC+5:30, Chris Angelico wrote:
> 
> <Description of the task of  first-classing syntax snipped>
> 
>> I suspect you'll find the task fundamentally hard.
> 
> How hard?
> Lets see.
> Two guys wanted to write an OS.
> Seeing current languages not upto their standard they first made
> themselves a suitable language.
> Would you call their project hard ridiculous and misguided?

No, I would call it easy and sensible. University undergraduates write their
own compilers and operating systems. Admittedly only toy ones, but Thomson
and Ritchie weren't undergraduates.

What does this have to do with creating a language with configurable syntax?
Just because C/Unix was a good idea doesn't mean every idea related to
programming language design is also a good idea.


> Well evidently some people did but fortunately their managers did not
> interfere.

You are assuming they had managers. University life isn't exactly the same
as corporate culture.


> OTOH some others liked the ideas/outlook enough that they jumped on the
> bandwagon and in short order there were - a heavy duty compilation system
> -- parser generators to librarians etc - editor(s)
> - source code systems
> - text tools (grep sed)
> - shell
> 
> In short a 'Programmer's Work Bench'
> http://www.ics.uci.edu/~andre/ics228s2006/dolottamashey.pdf
> 
> Now if Thomson and Ritchie (yeah thems the guys) could do it in 1970,
> why cant we revamp this 45-year old archaic program=textfile system today?

Programmers use source code as text for the same reason that wheels are
still round. Wheels have been round for thousands of years! Why can't we
try something modern, like triangular wheels? Or something fractal in
three-dimensions... maybe cauliflower shaped?



-- 
Steven