[Python-ideas] Verbatim names (allowing keywords as names)

[Carl Smith]

Thanks for the reply Todd.

If `True` was redefined somewhere else, it would still be `True` for you.
You could do `from oldlib import True as true` and have `true` equal `
np.bool_(1)`. You could reference `oldlib.True` or do
`oldlib.function(True=x)` to interact with the name in the old library.

None of this would actually apply to `True`, as it's a reserved word in all
versions. The proposal only applies to new keywords that are used as names
in other libraries.

Again, thanks for taking the time.

-- Carl Smith
carl.input at gmail.com

On 16 May 2018 at 14:46, Todd <toddrjen at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Tue, May 15, 2018, 23:03 Carl Smith <carl.input at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>>> On Tue, May 15, 2018 at 8:41 PM, Steven D'Aprano <steve at pearwood.info>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Inspired by Alex Brault's  post:
>>>>
>>>> https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-ideas/2018-May/050750.html
>>>>
>>>> I'd like to suggest we copy C#'s idea of verbatim identifiers, but
>>>> using
>>>> a backslash rather than @ sign:
>>>>
>>>>     \name
>>>>
>>>> would allow "name" to be used as an identifier, even if it clashes with
>>>> a keyword.
>>>
>>>
>> I strongly disagree, but can't seem to get anyone
>> ​ to bite.
>>
>> We want to be able to introduce a keyword that was formally a name, still
>> allow
>> it to be used as a name, still allow code that uses it as a keyword to
>> interoperate
>> ​ ​
>> with code that uses it as a name
>> , without changing the language
>> or implementation
>> too much.
>>
>> ​Ideally, Python would still not allow the keyword to be used as a name
>> and a
>> keyword in the same file??
>>
>> The lexer could class the tokens as *keynames*, and the parser could use
>> the
>> context of the first instance of each keyname to determine if it's a name
>> or
>> keyword for the rest of that file. Projects that used the word as a name
>> would
>> only be prevented from also using it as a keyword in the same file.
>>
>> It's really then a question of whether users could elegantly and naturally
>> reference a name in another module without introducing the name to the
>> current module's namespace.
>>
>> We only reference external names (as syntactic names) in import
>> statements,
>> as properties after the dot operator, and as keyword arguments.
>>
>> If code that used the word as a keyword was still allowed to use the word
>> as
>> a name after the dot operator and as a keyword argument *in an
>> invocation*,
>> it would only change the language in a subtle way.
>>
>> If we could reference keynames in import statements, but not import the
>> name,
>> so basically allow `from keyname import keyname as name`, but not allow
>> `import keyname`, we could still easily import things that used the
>> keyname
>> as a name. This wouldn't change the language too dramatically either.
>>
>> Maybe I'm just being dumb, but it seems like three subtle changes to the
>> language would allow for everything we want to have, with only minor
>> limitations
>> on the rare occasion that you want to use the new keyword with a library
>> that is
>> also using the same keyword as a name.
>>
>> I promise not to push this idea again, but would really appreciate
>> someone taking
>> a couple of minutes to explain why it's not worth responding to. I'm not
>> offended,
>> but would like to know what I'm doing wrong.
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>
>
> I think your idea would work okay if everyone followed good programming
> practices.  But when you have files that are tens of thousands of ugly code
> written by dozens of non-programmers over a dozen years it sounds like a
> recipe for a nightmare.
>
> For example someone you never met that left your group ten years ago could
> have made "True" be "np.bool_(1)" on a whim that makes your code break
> later in very hard-to-debug ways.
>
> To put it simply, I think it encourages people to take convenient
> shortcuts with implications they don't understand.
>
>>
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