"Data blocks" syntax specification draft

[Chris Angelico]

On Wed, May 23, 2018 at 1:43 AM, Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tue, May 22, 2018 at 9:34 AM, Chris Angelico <rosuav at gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Wed, May 23, 2018 at 1:22 AM, Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> On Tue, May 22, 2018 at 8:25 AM, Chris Angelico <rosuav at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> On Tue, May 22, 2018 at 8:25 PM, bartc <bc at freeuk.com> wrote:
>>>>> Note that Python tuples don't always need a start symbol:
>>>>>
>>>>>    a = 10,20,30
>>>>>
>>>>> assigns a tuple to a.
>>>>
>>>> The tuple has nothing to do with the parentheses, except for the
>>>> special case of the empty tuple. It's the comma.
>>>
>>> Although, if the rule were really as simple as "commas make tuples",
>>> then this would be a list containing a tuple: [1, 2, 3].
>>
>> In an arbitrary expression, a comma between two expressions creates a
>> tuple. In other contexts, the comma has other meanings, which take
>> precedence:
>>
>> * Separating a function's arguments (both at definition and call)
>> * Enumerating import targets and global/nonlocal names
>> * Separating an assertion from its message
>> * Listing multiple context managers
>> * And probably some that I've forgotten.
>>
>> In those contexts, you can override the normal interpretation and
>> force the tuple by using parentheses, preventing it from being parsed
>> as something else, and making it instead a single expression:
>>
>> print((1, 2)) # prints a tuple
>> print(1, 2) # prints two items
>>
>> The comma is what makes the tuple, though, not the parentheses. The
>> parentheses merely prevent this from being something else.
>
> In other words, the rule is not really as simple as "commas make
> tuples". I stand by what I wrote.

Neither of us is wrong here. "Commas make tuples" is a useful
oversimplification in the same way that "asterisk means
multiplication" is. The asterisk has other meanings in specific
contexts (eg unpacking), but outside of those contexts, it means
multiplication.

ChrisA