Python's way of grouping is VERY good. Over the last 30+ years I've seen a lot of code (good and bad) in many languages. IMHO good code (independent of language) always uses indentation, even when other block constructs (like braces) is available. Python developers thought that this was redundant. Just make the indentation mean something and lose the block construct characters.
Secondly, Python "nudges" me into writing better (easier to maintain and clearer to understand) code by influencing me towards splitting my code into smaller functions/classes. If I find myself with more than 3-4 levels of indentation, I probably need to move some of the lower level code into a function or a class anyway (I actually ran into this this very morning). Some might interpret this as a negative, I don't. I find that a lot of programmers put WAY too much code into single individual modules (main programs, functions) for their own good. It is harder to read, harder to understand, and harder to maintain. I believe that Python tends to make these programmers better by influencing them to write more modular code. The best method for deeply nested grouping is usually the introduction of functions/classes that divide the deeply nested grouping into more manageable and debuggable pieces. Larry Bates Tim Tyler wrote: > What do you guys think about Python's grouping of code via indentation? > > Is it good - perhaps because it saves space and eliminates keypresses? > > Or is it bad - perhaps because it makes program flow dependent on > invisible, and unpronouncable characters - and results in more > manual alignment issues by preventing code formatters from managing > indentation? > > Python is certainly pretty unorthodox in this area. > > How would you have dealt with the issue of how to group statements? -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
