On 24/07/2016 22:08, Chris Angelico wrote:
On Mon, Jul 25, 2016 at 6:03 AM, BartC <b...@freeuk.com> wrote:
Perhaps because I prefer to use my own languages and I don't have anyone
writing the specialist tools for me that would be necessary.
So because you've chosen to use your own languages, you are frustrated
at Python because you're not using a decent editor?
My point is that with a bit more thought into the design of a language,
clever tools would be less important. A language should stand by itself
and not lean on specialist tools to be make it more usable.
A solid end-of-block symbol (as you get with 'else' and 'except' because
then you KNOW that's the end of that block) would have been welcome with
the Python indent scheme.
Get yourself
something nice and configurable, so that when you open a Python file
it gives you the features you need. I use SciTE,
I have one big problem with most editors (including SciTE): they are not
properly line-oriented. If you hold down Backspace in the middle of a
line, it won't just delete until it hits the beginning of the line; it
keeps going! I can't live with that: editing would be like walking on
eggshells. I need hard line stops. (I can't touch type; I need to look
at the keyboard a lot.)
(And SciTE won't support a custom language for highlighting and stuff.
Maybe it's configurable, but there seems to be a lexer module that needs
to be provided. Suddenly it seems a lot of work to do.)
Why is this such a problem? Why is it so hard?
Who says it's a problem? I'm quite happy with the screen editors I use
that are little changed since the early 80s (and before that I used line
editors; now those /were/ horrible).
You might know that type declarations in C, as soon as you go beyond the
basics, become completely impossible and convoluted.
When do you get those uber-convoluted declarations in C?
(They don't need to be elaborate to start being confusing. Take 'int
*a[]' and 'int (*a)[]'; one of these is an array of pointers, the other
a pointer to an array. Quite different! But which is which?
And when you start dealing with pointers to functions, now you're
talking! And yes C++ takes this to a whole new dimension. What a
language...)
And for block delimiting, it uses neither tabbed indents or braces!)
Sure. You're most welcome to use that. But it doesn't mean that Python
is unusable.
It's not unusable. Just a minor nuisance (working with Python using my
editor). And troublesome pasting Python code from elsewhere which is
always full of spaces rather than tabs. (Sometimes uneven mixes of
spaces too.)
The Python indent thing isn't a big deal. But having 'end' after each
(final) block would have made life just a bit simpler.
The whole topic is a trivial point of syntax. (My only issue with 'pass'
is that, for some inexplicable reason, my fingers always type it is
'#pass'.)
Plus, I'd much rather trust Python in production than something
custom-made, even by me. The performance, reliability, and security of
a well-respected language far outstrip anything I could build.
Well, performance is where I usually have an edge at the minute (with my
own interpreted language). But if I had to recommend a language, it
would have to be Python (I can't be dealing with users and support and
all that...)
--
Bartc
--
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