Path: csiph.com!usenet.pasdenom.info!news.redatomik.org!newsfeed.xs4all.nl!newsfeed4.news.xs4all.nl!xs4all!newsgate.cistron.nl!newsgate.news.xs4all.nl!post.news.xs4all.nl!not-for-mail
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
Mime-Version: 1.0 (Mac OS X Mail 8.2 \(2070.6\))
Subject: Re: Python Worst Practices
From: Travis Griggs <travisgriggs@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <mclca6$iie$1@ger.gmane.org>
Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2015 13:21:27 -0800
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
References: <mclca6$iie$1@ger.gmane.org>
To: Python <python-list@python.org>
Precedence: list
Newsgroups: comp.lang.python
Message-ID: <mailman.19318.1425072098.18130.python-list@python.org>
Lines: 46
NNTP-Posting-Host: 2001:888:2000:d::a6
Xref: csiph.com comp.lang.python:86592


> On Feb 25, 2015, at 12:45 PM, Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> =
wrote:
>=20
> http://www.slideshare.net/pydanny/python-worst-practices
>=20
> Any that should be added to this list?  Any that be removed as not =
that bad?

I read =E2=80=98em. I thought they were pretty good, some more than =
others. And I learned some things. I especially liked the first one, =
since I=E2=80=99ve struggled with that one a bunch. In the context of =
=E2=80=9Chey, accept Python for what it is=E2=80=9D, I agree greatly =
with it. Memorize the builtins, and stay the heck away from them. I=E2=80=99=
ve been burned many times because I stored some bytes in a binding call, =
er, uh, =E2=80=98bytes=E2=80=99. And having mentored some people =
learning Python in the early stages, any explanation other than =E2=80=9CT=
hou Shalt Never Use These Holy Words=E2=80=9D just confuses people.

That said=E2=80=A6=20

If I were giving a talk at SPLASH (or some other suitable polyglot =
conference), I might do one called =E2=80=9CLanguage Design Worst =
Practices=E2=80=9D.

One of my first slides might be titled:

Abuse Common Tokens in Confusing Ways

* Make your language have a lot of keywords. Enough to make memorizing =
them ALL unlikely, requiring constant visits to your documentation
* Make sure said keywords are many of the obvious words programmers =
would use in their applications (map, object, bytes, dir, etc)
* Design your syntax so that you can=E2=80=99t disambiguate them =
contextually between bind and reference
* Be sure to use it in a late bound language where no warnings will be =
provided about the mistake you=E2=80=99re making at authorship time, =
deferring the educational experience to sundry run times

In my examples column of this bad practice, I=E2=80=99d put Python of =
course. :)

I do like Python, and I accept it for what it is, so no one needs to =
jump forward as a Holy Python See to convert me to the truth. I also =
know that with most other languages, that first slide wouldn=E2=80=99t =
need to be one of the prominent =E2=80=9Cworst practices=E2=80=9D slide.=