Python slang

[BartC]

On 06/08/2016 04:10, Steven D'Aprano wrote:
> On Sat, 6 Aug 2016 10:13 am, Chris Angelico wrote:
>
>> On Sat, Aug 6, 2016 at 9:21 AM, Marco Sulla
>> <mail.python.org at marco.sulla.e4ward.com> wrote:
>>> I want to clarify that when I say "different from the other
>>> languages", I mean "different from the most used languages", that in
>>> my mind are C/C++, C#, Java, PHP and Javascript, mainly.
>>>
>>
>> Ah, well, that's because those are all one family of languages. If
>> instead you were familiar with four LISPy languages, you'd have a
>> completely different set of expectations.
>
> Furthermore, that's only six languages out of, what, a couple of thousand
> known programming languages?
>
> And even languages clearly in the C family, like Objective-C, D, Swift, Java
> and Go, can end up using quite different syntax and execution models.
>
> It amuses me when people know a handful of languages, all clearly derived
> from each other, and think that's "most" languages. That's like somebody
> who knows Dutch, Afrikaans and German[1] being surprised that Russian,
> Cantonese, Hebrew and Vietnamese don't follow the same language rules
> as "most languages".

The analogy isn't quite right. Most programming languages use English 
keywords.

It's more like why US English uses words like "windshield", "hood" and 
"trunk" instead of the proper "windscreen", "bonnet" and "boot".

Oddly, for all its dynamism, Python doesn't allow aliases for its 
keywords to allow for personal taste.

-- 
Bartc