Debugging (was Re: Why not allow empty code blocks?)

[BartC]

On 03/08/2016 06:43, Steven D'Aprano wrote:

> Not everything that is done is worth the cognitive burden of memorising a
> special case.
....

> In some ways, Python is a more minimalist language than you like. That's okay,
> you're allowed to disagree with some design decisions.

Well it's minimalist in some ways, and completely the opposite in others!

It uses minimal basic syntax (missing a couple of loop forms, loop 
controls, switch/case, select-expressions... it's just a handful of 
features).

But then you get to the standard library, and the plethora of different 
data types, methods and options. It's never-ending!

So the idea that remembering 'repeat N' is a cognitive burden, and the 
myriad string operations for example are not, is ridiculous.

(Especially when 'repeat N' will have an obvious counterpart in some 
other languages, but 'str.encode(...)' for example will not.)



-- 
Bartc