I have hard time seeing the benefits of this "necessity" , just unreasonable overcomplications for the name of "diversity".
On Nov 23, 2017 22:57, "Ben Finney" <[email protected]> wrote: > Ian Kelly <[email protected]> writes: > > > On Thu, Nov 23, 2017 at 1:04 PM, Karsten Hilbert > > <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Using function arguments written in Thai script ? > > > > > > Understanding, let alone being able to read, code written in Arabic > > > ? > > > > People are going to write code in Arabic whether you like it or not, > > because not everybody speaks English, and not everybody who does > > *wants* to use it. > > This is, I think, a good reason to allow Unicode identifiers (at least, > those Unicode subsets which encode writing systems of languages) as > programming-language identifiers. > > > Now, would you prefer to read code where the variable names are > > written in Arabic script, or where the variable names are still in > > Arabic but transliterated to Latin characters? > > (On the – evidently correct, in Karsten's case and mine – assumption > that the reader does not understand Arabic script.) > > I've thought about this, and if the quesition is which would *I* prefer, > the answer is I'd prefer the identifiers transliterated to the Latin > (English-writing) characters. > > Because if I already can't understand the words, it will be more useful > to me to be able to type them reliably at a keyboard, for replication, > search, discussion with others about the code, etc. > > Set against that, though, I want the preferences of *others* to be taken > into consideration also. And there are many more people who do not > natively write English/Latin characters, that I want to feel welcome in > the Python community. > > So it's a good thing that my own reading preference *does not* have > weight in this matter. I'm not the primary audience for code identifiers > written in Arabic script, so my preference should matter less than those > who understand it. > > > Either way, you're not going to be able to understand it, so I'm not > > sure why it makes a difference to you. > > I hope you can see that it can simultaneously make a difference – I > would definitely prefer to read Latin-writing identifiers – while also > being a lesser consideration that should not outweigh the benefits of > allowing non-Latin-script identifiers. > > > If Arabic characters are allowed however, then it might be of use to > > the people who are going to code in Arabic anyway. And if it isn't, > > then they have the option not to use it either. > > This is a necessary consequence of increasing the diversity of people > able to program in Python: people will express ideas originating in > their own language, in Python code. > > For that diversity to increase, we English-fluent folk will necessarily > become a smaller proportion of the programming community than we are > today. That might be uncomfortable for us, but it is a necessary > adaptation the community needs to undergo. > > -- > \ “In any great organization it is far, far safer to be wrong | > `\ with the majority than to be right alone.” —John Kenneth | > _o__) Galbraith, 1989-07-28 | > Ben Finney > > -- > https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list > -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
