Donn Cave wrote: > In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, > Steve Holden <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> Paul Rubin wrote: >>> Steven D'Aprano <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: >>>> As far as I can see, the only difference is that the list comp variable >>>> isn't explicitly created with a statement of the form "name = value". Why >>>> is that a problem? >>> I don't know that listcomp vars are worse problem than other vars; >>> however there is an easy workaround for the listcomp vars so I use it. >>> If there was a way to restrict the scope of other local vars (I gave >>> examples from other languages of how this can be done), I'd use that too. > > Someday we will look at "variables" like we look at goto. > How very functional. I believe some people naturally think in terms of state transformations and some in terms of functional evaluation. I am pretty firmly in the former camp myself, so variables are a natural repository for state to me.
>> Maybe we just have different styles, and I naturally tend to write in >> smaller scopes than you do. > > I've wondered if programmers might differ a lot in how much they > dread errors, or how they react to different kinds of errors. > For example, do you feel a pang of remorse when your program > dies with a traceback - I mean, what a horrible way to die? > Do you resent the compiler's reprimands about your code errors, > or nagging about warnings? Maybe the language implementation's > job has as much to do with working around our feelings as anything > else. > That's an interesting point of view. I certainly don't take the somewhat anthropomorphic approach you describe above. My first response to any "error" message is to ask myself "what did I do wrong *now*?" - the very fact that we talk about "error messages" implies a point of view that's discouraging to new users: "you did something wrong, fix it and try again". I do think that most language implementations could spend more time, and more sympathetic thought, on creating messages that were less pejorative and more indicative of the required corrective actions. But after forty years programming I know myself well enough to understand that I am the most likely cause of incorrect results. It's always amusing to see a newbie appear on this list and suggest that there's a bug in some long-standing feature of the language. It's always a possibility, but the probability is pretty low. regards Steve -- Steve Holden +1 571 484 6266 +1 800 494 3119 Holden Web LLC/Ltd http://www.holdenweb.com Skype: holdenweb http://del.icio.us/steve.holden --------------- Asciimercial ------------------ Get on the web: Blog, lens and tag the Internet Many services currently offer free registration ----------- Thank You for Reading ------------- -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
