Tim Harig wrote:
The use of whitespace was a stylistic change and stylistic holy wars exist because it is almost impossible to prove that any reasonable style has benefit over another. That whitespace causes issues is verifiable. I find it hard to concluded that that whitespace based syntax is superior when it tells us that we cannot use thousands of otherwise useful tools that other langauges manage to work with. I find it hard to select a matter of taste with no verifiable benefit over a verifiable disadvantage that happens to strike many people.
The verifiable benefit for me is ease of use, ease of thought, ease of typing... I realize these are not benefits for everyone, but they are for some -- and I would venture a guess that the ease of thought benefit is one of the primary reasons Python is popular. I am definitely one of those that think indentation based structure is one of Python's best features.
I do acknowledge that if you don't think that way, it can be major hassle, and I sympathize.
~Ethan~ -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
