<!-- MHonArc v2.4.4 --> <!--X-Subject: [MUD-Dev] Re: Bruce Sterling on Virtual Community goals --> <!--X-From-R13: X Q Znjerapr <pynjNhaqre.rate.ftv.pbz> --> <!--X-Date: Wed, 21 Oct 1998 18:30:24 -0700 --> <!--X-Message-Id: 199810220127.SAA10564#under,engr.sgi.com --> <!--X-Content-Type: text/plain --> <!--X-Reference: Pine.LNX.3.93.981020194434.16708C-100000#ias,jb.com --> <!--X-Head-End--> <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> <html> <head> <title>MUD-Dev message, [MUD-Dev] Re: Bruce Sterling on Virtual Community goals</title> <!-- meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow" --> <link rev="made" href="mailto:claw#under,engr.sgi.com"> </head> <body background="/backgrounds/paperback.gif" bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" alink="#FF0000" vlink="#006000"> <font size="+4" color="#804040"> <strong><em>MUD-Dev<br>mailing list archive</em></strong> </font> <br> [ <a href="../">Other Periods</a> | <a href="../../">Other mailing lists</a> | <a href="/search.php3">Search</a> ] <br clear=all><hr> <!--X-Body-Begin--> <!--X-User-Header--> <!--X-User-Header-End--> <!--X-TopPNI--> Date: [ <a href="msg00327.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00329.html">Next</a> ] Thread: [ <a href="msg00284.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00289.html">Next</a> ] Index: [ <A HREF="author.html#00328">Author</A> | <A HREF="#00328">Date</A> | <A HREF="thread.html#00328">Thread</A> ] <!--X-TopPNI-End--> <!--X-MsgBody--> <!--X-Subject-Header-Begin--> <H1>[MUD-Dev] Re: Bruce Sterling on Virtual Community goals</H1> <HR> <!--X-Subject-Header-End--> <!--X-Head-of-Message--> <UL> <LI><em>To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A></LI> <LI><em>Subject</em>: [MUD-Dev] Re: Bruce Sterling on Virtual Community goals </LI> <LI><em>From</em>: J C Lawrence <<A HREF="mailto:claw#under,engr.sgi.com">claw#under,engr.sgi.com</A>></LI> <LI><em>Date</em>: Wed, 21 Oct 1998 18:27:43 -0700</LI> <LI><em>Reply-To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A></LI> </UL> <!--X-Head-of-Message-End--> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-Begin--> <HR> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-End--> <!--X-Body-of-Message--> <PRE> On Tue, 20 Oct 1998 20:06:09 -0700 (PDT) Marc Hernandez<marc#jb,com> wrote: > I also dislike Pythons whitespace requirements (and it looked like > such a nice language). As did I, and as I did for about the first 10K lines of code I wrote in it. Then it started to grow on me, to the point that now I rather like it. Then I went and wrote a few hundred thousand lines of Python and decided that in fact I really liked it. (The debugging advantages are not to be sneezed at). Consider it this way: Most of use use a set coding format for our C code. We put our braces in the same place every time, wrap (or don't) long lines in the same way each time, use <whatever> character or TAB indents for blocks, etc. The result is that if we took that code and removed __ALL__ the purely structural components, all the semi-colons, all the braces, etc we would still be able to read it and would in fact, with trivial effort, be able to re-assemble the code as it was before the structural elements were removed by purely relying on our knowledge of our coding formats. So, if they in fact convey so little information due to the fact that we have adopted a coding format already, why use them at all? Python is essentially in the position of merely mandating a coding format. Whether it is the best-ever coding format, or curls your short and curlies is another matter -- almost all commercial shops also have coding style guidelines which ehy (more or less) mandate so you can expect in your professional lives to often not have a choice -- its there, its not excessively onorus, and it works. PetPeeve: However there is a particular form of white space sensitivity that *REALLY* bugs me in languages like REXX, and that's the requirement that there NOT be any white space between a function identifier and the opening paren for the arguments: func(arg) /* Legal code */ func (arg) /* Syntax error */ -- J C Lawrence Internet: claw#kanga,nu (Contractor) Internet: coder#kanga,nu ---------(*) Internet: claw#under,engr.sgi.com ...Honourary Member of Clan McFud -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith... </PRE> <!--X-Body-of-Message-End--> <!--X-MsgBody-End--> <!--X-Follow-Ups--> <HR> <!--X-Follow-Ups-End--> <!--X-References--> <UL><LI><STRONG>References</STRONG>: <UL> <LI><STRONG><A NAME="00284" HREF="msg00284.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Bruce Sterling on Virtual Community goals</A></STRONG> <UL><LI><EM>From:</EM> Marc Hernandez <marc#jb,com></LI></UL></LI> </UL></LI></UL> <!--X-References-End--> <!--X-BotPNI--> <UL> <LI>Prev by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00327.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Bruce Sterling on Virtual Community goals</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00329.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Recursive look</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Prev by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00284.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Bruce Sterling on Virtual Community goals</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00289.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Bruce Sterling on Virtual Community goals</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Index(es): <UL> <LI><A HREF="index.html#00328"><STRONG>Date</STRONG></A></LI> <LI><A HREF="thread.html#00328"><STRONG>Thread</STRONG></A></LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> <!--X-BotPNI-End--> <!--X-User-Footer--> <!--X-User-Footer-End--> <ul><li>Thread context: <BLOCKQUOTE><UL> <LI><STRONG>[MUD-Dev] Re: PDMud (was Re: Bruce Sterling on Virtual Community goals)</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM> <ul compact> <ul compact> <ul compact> <ul compact> <ul compact> <ul compact> <ul compact> <ul compact> <ul compact> <LI><strong><A NAME="00319" HREF="msg00319.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: PDMud (was Re: Bruce Sterling on Virtual Community goals)</A></strong>, Hal Black <a href="mailto:hal#moos,ml.org">hal#moos,ml.org</a>, Wed 21 Oct 1998, 22:14 GMT <LI><strong><A NAME="00321" HREF="msg00321.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: PDMud (was Re: Bruce Sterling on Virtual Community goals)</A></strong>, J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#under,engr.sgi.com">claw#under,engr.sgi.com</a>, Wed 21 Oct 1998, 22:33 GMT </LI> </LI> </ul> </ul> </ul> <LI><strong><A NAME="00280" HREF="msg00280.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Bruce Sterling on Virtual Community goals</A></strong>, Joel Kelso <a href="mailto:joel#ee,uwa.edu.au">joel#ee,uwa.edu.au</a>, Wed 21 Oct 1998, 01:30 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00284" HREF="msg00284.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Bruce Sterling on Virtual Community goals</A></strong>, Marc Hernandez <a href="mailto:marc#jb,com">marc#jb,com</a>, Wed 21 Oct 1998, 03:09 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00328" HREF="msg00328.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Bruce Sterling on Virtual Community goals</A></strong>, J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#under,engr.sgi.com">claw#under,engr.sgi.com</a>, Thu 22 Oct 1998, 01:30 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00289" HREF="msg00289.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Bruce Sterling on Virtual Community goals</A></strong>, Jon A. Lambert <a href="mailto:jlsysinc#ix,netcom.com">jlsysinc#ix,netcom.com</a>, Wed 21 Oct 1998, 04:53 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> </ul> <LI><strong><A NAME="00285" HREF="msg00285.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Bruce Sterling on Virtual Community goals</A></strong>, Jon A. Lambert <a href="mailto:jlsysinc#ix,netcom.com">jlsysinc#ix,netcom.com</a>, Wed 21 Oct 1998, 03:10 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00288" HREF="msg00288.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Bruce Sterling on Virtual Community goals</A></strong>, Marc Hernandez <a href="mailto:marc#jb,com">marc#jb,com</a>, Wed 21 Oct 1998, 04:50 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00324" HREF="msg00324.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Bruce Sterling on Virtual Community goals</A></strong>, Jon A. Lambert <a href="mailto:jlsysinc#ix,netcom.com">jlsysinc#ix,netcom.com</a>, Thu 22 Oct 1998, 00:32 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> </LI> </ul> </ul> </ul> </ul> </ul> </LI> </UL></BLOCKQUOTE> </ul> <hr> <center> [ <a href="../">Other Periods</a> | <a href="../../">Other mailing lists</a> | <a href="/search.php3">Search</a> ] </center> <hr> </body> </html>