On Fri, 25 May 2007, Guillaume Proux wrote: > If you are really paranoid to see evil chars take over your > python src dir
On Sun, 3 Jun 2007, Stephen J. Turnbull wrote: > I do not agree with Ka-Ping inter alia that there are bogeymen > under the bed Sigh. I have lost count of the number of times I (and others by association) have been labelled "paranoid" or something similar in this discussion, and I am now asking you all to put a stop to it. Name-calling isn't going to do us any good. (I am sorry that this is in reply to your message, Stephen -- your message above is one of the gentlest of the lot; it just happens to be the most recent, and I have finally been pushed over the edge into saying something about it.) Please: can we all stick to statements about usage, problems, and solutions, not about the personalities of those who propose them? Here is what I have to say (to everyone in this discussion, not specifically to you, Stephen) in response to said labelling: Many of us value a *predictable* identifier character set. Whether "predictable" means ASCII only, or user-selectable, or restricted by default, I think we all agree in this sentiment: We believe that we should try to make it easier, not harder, for programmers to understand what Python code says. This has many benefits (reliability, readability, transparency, reviewability, debuggability). I consider these core strengths of Python. Python is a source code language. In other languages you share binaries, but in Python you share and directly run source code. This is fundamental to its impact on open source, its impact on education, and its prevalence as an extension language. That is what makes these strengths so important. I hope this helps you understand why these concerns can't and shouldn't be brushed off as "paranoia" -- this really has to do with the core values of the language. -- ?!ng _______________________________________________ Python-3000 mailing list Python-3000@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-3000 Unsubscribe: http://mail.python.org/mailman/options/python-3000/archive%40mail-archive.com
