New to Python - block grouping (spaces)

[Rustom Mody]

On Monday, April 20, 2015 at 4:00:16 PM UTC+5:30, Steven D'Aprano wrote:
> On Monday 20 April 2015 12:43, Rustom Mody wrote:
> 
> > You've a 10-file python project in which you want to replace function 'f'
> > by function 'longname'
> > How easy is it?
> 
> About a thousand times easier than the corresponding situation:
> 
> You have ten PDF files in which you want to replace the word "f" with the 
> word "longname".
> 

To paraphrase Pauli's "This is not even wrong" 
this is not even a strawman

If you want a realistic example its something like castXML or its more well-known
predecessor gccXML 
https://github.com/CastXML/CastXML/blob/master/doc/manual/castxml.1.rst

[With some hesitation because I dont like XML but anyway in the abstract
thats my point]
> 
> You have identified a weakness in the current Python ecosystem. Our 
> automated refactoring tools are currently quite weak and primitive. I'm only 
> aware of one, Bicycle Repair Man, which as far as I know is no longer under 
> active development.

Well there is rope if thats what you want.


> But I think the reason for that is not because Python is 
> text based. Java is also text based and it has powerful refactoring tools. 
> In Python's case:
> 
> - Python projects tend to be smaller and less enterprisey than Java 
> projects;
> 
> - Python syntax is easier to read (less cruft) and therefore manual 
> refactoring is simpler, compared to Java.

All this is true but a bit far afield from what I am saying:
These examples are about how to keep going with these silos as they are
I am talking of how the silos can be less impenetrable