I never have understood the *serious* hatred of Python's "indentation as syntax" approach. I've used lots of bracketed and begin/end languages (C/C++, Algol & relatives, Ruby, and most other programming languages), and when I write code in those languages I usually indent as I write. Obviously, indenting makes it much easier for a human to understand the program structure. It never occurred to me to code C, for example, without indenting. Of course, the compiler doesn't mind -- for the computer the brackets are easier to understand, but not for humans.
When I pseudo-code with pencil and paper or text editor, my natural tendency is to use indentation for structure, not brackets. I'd imagine this is true for almost everyone. When Python came along the Python team adopted the motto "programmable pseudo-code" (or something like that) and, for me, it was true. I personally think Python is very readable. Another minor benefit of the indentation-only approach is the reduced vertical size of a program -- all those trailing brackets on a line of their own add up :) So it never occurred to me to object to Python's indentation approach. I always did it anyway. And, even without code formatters, if a program could compile and run, I could rely on the indentation to be representative of the program's actual structure. Aside from indentation Python's keyword function arguments and optional arguments often make for more readable code. Go could really benefit from those features, and since they are already available in struct literals, it might not be too hard to fit into the Go language... On Sun, Feb 28, 2021 at 12:35 AM 'Dan Kortschak' via golang-nuts < golang-nuts@googlegroups.com> wrote: > On Sun, 2021-02-28 at 09:23 +0100, Jan Mercl wrote: > > I meant, for example, in regexp notation, ` *` vs `\n *` between a > > function signature and the opening brace of the function body. > > Ah, yes. > > > This assumes newline is a whitespace. Most programming languages > > agree, but humans may not. > > With semicolon insertion, they're not. While they are white, they're > qualitatively difference to horizontal white. > > Dan > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the > Google Groups "golang-nuts" group. > To unsubscribe from this topic, visit > https://groups.google.com/d/topic/golang-nuts/uy17JJe8KB4/unsubscribe. > To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to > golang-nuts+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/golang-nuts/070aa073f9c5c9d78a7d68bf9534fa37d701d384.camel%40kortschak.io > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "golang-nuts" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to golang-nuts+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/golang-nuts/CAKyHfRMkgqZ0MyQFcyszX3m1DLcrK%3D1Zfiw2ugFx3VsX2QSeAQ%40mail.gmail.com.
