Increasing the diversity of people who write Python (was: Benefits of unicode identifiers)

[Andrew Z]

I have hard time seeing the benefits of this "necessity" , just
unreasonable  overcomplications for the name of "diversity".




On Nov 23, 2017 22:57, "Ben Finney" <ben+python at benfinney.id.au> wrote:

> Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly at gmail.com> writes:
>
> > On Thu, Nov 23, 2017 at 1:04 PM, Karsten Hilbert
> > <Karsten.Hilbert at gmx.net> wrote:
> > > Using function arguments written in Thai script ?
> > >
> > > Understanding, let alone being able to read, code written in Arabic
> > > ?
> >
> > People are going to write code in Arabic whether you like it or not,
> > because not everybody speaks English, and not everybody who does
> > *wants* to use it.
>
> This is, I think, a good reason to allow Unicode identifiers (at least,
> those Unicode subsets which encode writing systems of languages) as
> programming-language identifiers.
>
> > Now, would you prefer to read code where the variable names are
> > written in Arabic script, or where the variable names are still in
> > Arabic but transliterated to Latin characters?
>
> (On the – evidently correct, in Karsten's case and mine – assumption
> that the reader does not understand Arabic script.)
>
> I've thought about this, and if the quesition is which would *I* prefer,
> the answer is I'd prefer the identifiers transliterated to the Latin
> (English-writing) characters.
>
> Because if I already can't understand the words, it will be more useful
> to me to be able to type them reliably at a keyboard, for replication,
> search, discussion with others about the code, etc.
>
> Set against that, though, I want the preferences of *others* to be taken
> into consideration also. And there are many more people who do not
> natively write English/Latin characters, that I want to feel welcome in
> the Python community.
>
> So it's a good thing that my own reading preference *does not* have
> weight in this matter. I'm not the primary audience for code identifiers
> written in Arabic script, so my preference should matter less than those
> who understand it.
>
> > Either way, you're not going to be able to understand it, so I'm not
> > sure why it makes a difference to you.
>
> I hope you can see that it can simultaneously make a difference – I
> would definitely prefer to read Latin-writing identifiers – while also
> being a lesser consideration that should not outweigh the benefits of
> allowing non-Latin-script identifiers.
>
> > If Arabic characters are allowed however, then it might be of use to
> > the people who are going to code in Arabic anyway. And if it isn't,
> > then they have the option not to use it either.
>
> This is a necessary consequence of increasing the diversity of people
> able to program in Python: people will express ideas originating in
> their own language, in Python code.
>
> For that diversity to increase, we English-fluent folk will necessarily
> become a smaller proportion of the programming community than we are
> today. That might be uncomfortable for us, but it is a necessary
> adaptation the community needs to undergo.
>
> --
>  \         “In any great organization it is far, far safer to be wrong |
>   `\          with the majority than to be right alone.” —John Kenneth |
> _o__)                                            Galbraith, 1989-07-28 |
> Ben Finney
>
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>