On Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:28:11 +1300, greg wrote: > r wrote: >> I think the syntax was chosen because the alternatives are even worse >> AND since assignment is SO common in programming, would you *really* >> rather type two chars instead of one? > > Smalltalk solved the problem by using a left-arrow character for > assignment. But they had an unfair advantage in being able to use a > non-standard character set on their custom-built machines. > > We should be able to do a lot better now using Unicode. We could even > heal the <> vs != rift by using a real not-equal symbol!
The problem isn't with the available characters, but with *typing* them. It is hard to enter arbitrary Unicode characters by the keyboard, which frankly boggles my mind. I don't know what the state of the art on Mac is these days, but in 1984s Macs had a standard keyboard layout that let you enter most available characters via the keyboard, using sensible mnemonics. E.g. on a US keyboard layout, you could get ≠ by holding down the Option key and typing =. For me, I had to: Click Start menu > Utilities > More Applications > KCharSelect. Click through thirty-four(!) tables scanning by eye for the symbol I wanted. Click the ≠ character. Click To Clipboard. Go back to my editor window and paste. -- Steven -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
