Steven D'Aprano <st...@pearwood.info> writes: > Just about the only things in Python which are intuitive and not > confusing to somebody are None and ints.
I'll go even further: * The behaviour of ‘int’ is confusing to some. For example, to those who expect integers to produce fractions when divided. * The behaviour of ‘None’ is confusing to some. For example, to those who expect it to be a non-value, with no type. Examples of both those have appeared in this very forum in recent years. So, I think we can assert with confidence: if “avoid bevause it is unintuitive and confusing to some newcomers” were a good reason to avoid a Python feature, *all* Python features would be subject to oblivion. > Or, we can *learn how to use the features* and stop thinking that > programming is a matter of intuition. And most importantly, stop > thinking that features need to be judged entirely by the least > knowledgeable programmers. Yes. Appeals to intuition are irrelevant in talking about language features, IMO. The intuitions of newcomers should weigh heavily in language design. That is *not* the same as appealing to intuition: intuition gives you none of the essential and difficult concepts necessary to programming. > But the idea that you should avoid a Python feature while programming > in Python because Javascript doesn't have it, or Ruby, or C, is surely > the height of muddleheaded thinking. You're not programming > Javascript, Ruby or C, you're programming in Python. This is not to say that every Python feature can be used without concern. Steven is not arguing that avoidance of a feature is never justified. Rather, he's demonstrating that *that particular justification* is void. There may be a good reason to avoid Python behaviour Foo, but “because JavaScript/Ruby/Lisp/BASIC/INTERCAL doesn't have behaviour Foo” is not a valid justification. The case must be argued on other merits, if any. -- \ “Special today: no ice cream.” —mountain inn, Switzerland | `\ | _o__) | Ben Finney -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
