Continuing indentation

[Ben Finney]

alister <alister.ware at ntlworld.com> writes:

> On Fri, 04 Mar 2016 10:23:37 +0900, INADA Naoki wrote:
>
> > Because PEP8 says:
> > 
> >> The preferred place to break around a binary operator is after the
> >> operator, not before it. http://pep8.org/#maximum-line-length
>
> and that is to make it obvious that there is more to come.

That's a good way to express it.

I think there are competing models here:

* When breaking an expression between two lines, put the binary operator
  at the end of the earlier line.

  This makes it obvious what's going on when reading the earlier line.

* When breaking an expression between two lines, put the binary operator
  at the beginning of the later line.

  This makes it obvious what's going on when reading the continuation
  line.

Both have merit. Both models make an almost-identical appeal to
readability.

We can't put the binary operator in multiple places, so have to make a
choice. And, for consistency, we are motivated to set one style and
disallow the other.

Our mistake, I think, is to draw the inference that, because one style
has been chosen, it means the excluded styles do not have merit.

That inference is IMO unfounded. It may be that there are multiple
styles which could be justifiably chosen, and no option clearly superior
to all others.

I think this case – where to put the binary operator when breaking
an expression over a line break – is one where the style guide should
not be taken as advocating on the basis of superiority, but only having
chosen one for consistency.

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Ben Finney