[wplug] first language

bgtrio at yahoo.com bgtrio at yahoo.com
Tue Apr 1 11:59:11 EST 2003


Ooh, big scary whitespace.


>From the Python FAQ:
---
8.4. dedent syntax errors
The FAQ does not recommend using tabs, and Guido's Python Style Guide 
recommends 4 spaces for distributed Python code; this is also the Emacs 
python-mode default; see
    http://www.python.org/doc/essays/styleguide.html
Under any editor mixing tabs and spaces is a bad idea. MSVC is no 
different in this respect, and is easily configured to use spaces: Take 
Tools -> Options -> Tabs, and for file type "Default" set "Tab size" and 
"Indent size" to 4, and select the "Insert spaces" radio button.
If you suspect mixed tabs and spaces are causing problems in leading 
whitespace, run Python with the -t switch or, run 
Tools/Scripts/tabnanny.py to check a directory tree in batch mode. 
---

I don't get why people have such a problem with whitespace as opposed to 
any other sytactic element.  It strongly encourages readability because 
the positioning of the text gives you a clue as to the meaning of clause- 
with nested brackets you sometimes have to do a lot of backtracking to 
figure out where you are.

Ok, don't want to start a holy war, just don't like to see the snake 
slandered :)

Bryguy

On Tue, 1 Apr 2003, Weber, Larry A wrote:

> Python tried to implement the OO that Perl did not have for a long time.
> While Python has found its niche as a programming language used to exend
> other applications (like Blender), I don't see it as a main stream language.
> I can't tolerate a language that is whitespace dependent.  Python uses
> indentation instead of brackets.  And five spaces does not equal one tab,
> even if they look the same.
> 
> Maybe you could consider Ruby.  This is one of the cleanest OO languages I
> have seen.  It is still a little new so the libraries are not extensive but
> they are growing fast.
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From:	Mike Griffin [SMTP:mike at dmrnetworks.com]
> > Sent:	Tuesday, April 01, 2003 10:47 AM
> > To:	wplug at wplug.org
> > Subject:	Re: [wplug] first language
> > 
> > My programming is pretty much limited to shell scripts, and some mild C 
> > stuff, so I haven't attacked this myself yet, but I heard that python 
> > was a good language to start with. It's supposed to be easy, yet 
> > useful, to learn and use. Anyone have more of an  insight on this?
> > 
> > Mike
> > 
> > On Tuesday, April 1, 2003, at 10:34 AM, Scott Bourns wrote:
> > 
> > > I need some advice from sys/net admins and web gurus about a first
> > > programming language to start with.
> > >
> > > I want to add some programming to my knowledge bank. My primary focus 
> > > is
> > > network/system administration, but I'm heading more and more toward the
> > > web/remote admin category as well.
> > >
> > > I think I want to add some Java, PERL, PHP to my skill list, but I have
> > > very little programming background (a little exposure to C and some
> > > hacking of PHP and Java).
> > >
> > > Where should I begin? Which language should I really know first?
> > >
> > > In other words, I'm ready to knuckle down, but I don't want to head in
> > > the wrong direction and get frustrated by wasted or fruitless efforts.
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > >
> > > Scott
> > >
> > > P.S. Obviously, this would be a convenient time to start with PERL, but
> > > do I need to know a fair amount of C/C++ first?
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > wplug mailing list
> > > wplug at wplug.org
> > > http://www.wplug.org/mailman/listinfo/wplug
> > >
> > >
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
> > wplug mailing list
> > wplug at wplug.org
> > http://www.wplug.org/mailman/listinfo/wplug
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> wplug mailing list
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> 




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