On Aug 4, 3:43 pm, Gary Herron <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > A page of Python code looks *clean*, with not a lot of > punctuation/special symbols and (in particular) no useless lines
I am actually going to buck the trend. My first impression of Python was that it was visually hard to parse. When seeing sample code from languages I don't know (.NET, Smalltalk, etc) I can decipher the intent fairly easily (on simple code). Python, on the other hand, used shorthand notation for everything. Each word wasn't bad, but as a whole it tended to wash out informative clues. The lack of "special symbols" likewise removed visual parsing clues. Put another way, imagine math went from: 2 + 2 = 4 to: two plus two equals four and then someone decided to abbreviate: two pl two eq four When I ran into list comprehensions (Aah! Now we have punctuation, but it's not providing visual parsing clues, it's more like Lisp parens!) or lambda definitions or "self" being added a lot, it grew more dense. This is NOT a rip on Python. Please put the flamethrowers away. I appreciate that Python operates with a fairly dense use of information and operations. (Believe me, having done enough Java, I can appreciate not having excessive syntax). My point is that not everyone new to Python is going to have a "clean and clear" first impression, particularly based on their previous language experience. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list