[Tutor] Good Taste Question: Using SQLite3 in Python

[Roel Schroeven]

Alan Gauld schreef op 2015-04-30 00:51:

 > ...

> Trying to visually scan for _ or even __ is hard. Also different
> fonts make _ and __ hard to distinguish.

 > ...

> But they will be. Almost for certain. It's human nature and the nature 
> of code maintenance. If it's there somebody will find a use for it. The 
> fact that 5 or 10 years earlier the author didn't intend for it to be 
> used is immaterial.

Summarizing a bit, I think you make two main points (please correct me 
if I'm wrong):

[1] Visually scanning for _ or __ is hard, and _ are __ hard to 
distinguish from each other.

Personally, I find it easy to scan for them, but I think I can see whee 
you're coming from. Python tends to prefer words and tends to dislike 
symbols compared to e.g. C, C++, and certainly Perl. One could argue 
that using _ or __ goes against that, though to me it's not a problem. 
We're still very far from Perl's line noise.
It's true that _ and __ can be difficult to be distinguished from each 
other, but that's also not a problem to me, since I don't care about 
their values.


[2] Inevitably, sooner or later someone somewhere will start using _ or 
__ despite the fact that by convention they should not be used.

I have to admit that I have no experience programming in larger teams, 
and was blissfully unaware of the problems you describe. I think I can 
see how it might be better to avoid __ rather than try to enforce good 
coding discipline.


I still feel __ to be valuable, but I can see now where your dislike for 
it is coming from. Thank you for your insights!


Best regards,
Roel

-- 
The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge
faster than society gathers wisdom.
   -- Isaac Asimov

Roel Schroeven