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From: John Ames <commodorejohn@gmail.com>
Newsgroups: comp.unix.shell,comp.unix.programmer,comp.lang.misc
Subject: Re: Python (was Re: I did not inhale)
Date: Mon, 26 Aug 2024 08:33:30 -0700
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On Thu, 22 Aug 2024 08:21:29 -0000 (UTC)
Muttley@dastardlyhq.com wrote:

> >I am a big fan of clear and consistent layout and indentation, which
> >is forced on you by Python (and Occam), but I too prefer explicit
> >blocking. 
> >  It's harder to get things wrong with explicit blocking, and you
> > are   
> 
> Indeed. You delete a bracket by mistake and it won't compile, end of.
> In Python you can delete a spaces/tabs by mistake and if its at the
> end of the block the thing could still run.
> 
> >never faced with space vs. tab conflicts causing semantic changes to
> >the code.  
> 
> Yes, this is a royal PITA. I use tabs as in vim I can instantly
> change the indentation using "set ts=". With spaces its fixed short
> of dicking about with macros.

All of this. Are there some safeguards in place for the most egregious
cases? Yes - but literal whitespace is still a horrendous misfeature,
something the world at large has known for so long that it was already
an established joke by the time Ed Post was cracking wise about JCL in
freakin' _Datamation._

Python is far from the worst language out there - in fact, it's quite
usable for a wide variety of applications, in spite of that - but the
simple fact that Guido & co. made a boneheaded choice like that is the
reason I'll never be able to *respect* it, even when I do find myself
using it. There should - plain and simple - *never* be a time where you
can end up with unexpected semantic behavior because of settings in
your editor-of-choice.