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Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2012 16:17:36 -0600
From: Michael Torrie <torriem@gmail.com>
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Subject: Re: Python is readable
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Xref: csiph.com comp.lang.python:21718

On 03/15/2012 09:18 AM, Kiuhnm wrote:
> ----> After early user testing without the colon, it was discovered that 
> the meaning of the indentation was unclear to beginners being taught the 
> first steps of programming. <----
> 
> The addition of the colon clarified it significantly: the colon somehow 
> draws attention to what follows and ties the phrases before and after it 
> together in just the right way."
> 
> If that passage is correct, those studies don't say that adding the 
> colon increases the readability, but that it makes more sense to 
> beginners who don't even know what indentation is.

Seems to me that helping code to make more sense to a beginner is, by
definition, increasing readability.