On Tue, 18 Nov 2003 07:08 pm, Wouter Verhelst wrote: > Fact is, Python uses the concept of significant whitespace, which a lot > of us simply don't like. That's a personal opinion, and in most cases > probably not a rational thing, so providing arguments won't help. Can we > cut this thread here, please? (yeah, I know I started it)
Heh heh, too late now. ;) I agree completely it should be a non-issue, but the fact that it is brought up at all in the context of possibly discouraging someone from trying one of the best learning languages out there means I'm gonna reply to this anyway. Actually I think the whole "significant whitespace" problem that some folk (though never anyone who's actually used it) seem to have with python is purely a tiresome misuse of terms. "Significant whitespace" implies all sorts of things that scare off lots of folk, maybe with good reason. If one needs to label something as unremarkable as python's particular method of defining blocks (by indentation instead of extraneous brackets or "start, end" or any other ugly waste of space and keystrokes) then "significant indentation" might be more accurate. As long as blocks are indented consistently, however you prefer (reads and types great, tastes even better) they are blocks. It's quite sensible and straightforward. Nothing else about whitespace matters a fig in python, and even for indentation it's not the whitespace in itself that has any significance it's the consistent grouping of statements in blocks: the syntax could just as easily specify that this be done with any consistent number of dots or dashes you preferred, but then that wouldn't read as well, which is one of the main points... *shrug* So, David, if you're still reading, I've used python to teach programming with more success than any other language. It's a very consistent and sensible language, and like many others here have pointed out the underlying concepts of programming are transferable between languages, so IMHO you might as well start off learning something enjoyable, simple, powerful, and maintainable. There is very good and very comprehensive documentation available with python including a tutorial, and plenty of other learning material linked to from python.org. If you do think you'd like to try python and you like printed books, "Learning Python" by Mark Lutz & David Ascher would be a good place to start. -- Stephen M. Gava <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
