Re: Yet another Python textbook

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From	Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com>
Date	2012-11-21 17:19 -0700
Subject	Re: Yet another Python textbook
Newsgroups	comp.lang.python
Message-ID	<mailman.185.1353543590.29569.python-list@python.org> (permalink)

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On Wed, Nov 21, 2012 at 4:21 PM, Joshua Landau
<joshua.landau.ws@gmail.com> wrote:
> "{}".format() is a blessing an "" % () should go. "%" has no relevance to
> strings, is hard to "get" and has an appalling* syntax. Having two syntaxes
> just makes things less obvious, and the right choice rarer.
>
> str.format is also really easy. I don't understand what makes you disagree.

I think it mostly depends on where you come from as a programmer.  As
you say, having two syntaxes muddles things up.  If you come from C or
C++, then the %s syntax feels natural and intuitive, and trying to
learn the sort-of-similar-but-not-really {} syntax on top of it is
just confusing.  Conversely, if you come from Java or C#, then the {}
syntax comes naturally, and having to learn %s in addition will give
one a headache.  And then there are those who come from Lisp and want
to know why they can't just use the familiarly easy ~a syntax.

None of these are really any easier than the others.  But they are
sort of similar at a superficial level, which just makes it that much
more painful to learn one when you're already accustomed to another.

I think my favorite example from the str.format documentation is this
one.  Apart from demonstrating the flexibility of the format system,
it also manages to mix the two systems in a most unholy way:

>>> import datetime
>>> d = datetime.datetime(2010, 7, 4, 12, 15, 58)
>>> '{:%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S}'.format(d)
'2010-07-04 12:15:58'

Thread

Re: Yet another Python textbook Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2012-11-20 19:09 +1100
  Re: Yet another Python textbook wxjmfauth@gmail.com - 2012-11-20 06:57 -0800
    Re: Yet another Python textbook Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2012-11-21 08:00 +1100
      Re: Yet another Python textbook wxjmfauth@gmail.com - 2012-11-21 06:49 -0800
      Re: Yet another Python textbook wxjmfauth@gmail.com - 2012-11-21 06:49 -0800
      Re: Yet another Python textbook "Colin J. Williams" <cjw@ncf.ca> - 2012-11-21 12:03 -0500
        Re: Yet another Python textbook Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2012-11-22 09:17 +1100
          Re: Yet another Python textbook "Colin J. Williams" <cjw@ncf.ca> - 2012-11-22 07:24 -0500
            Re: Yet another Python textbook Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2012-11-22 11:27 -0700
              Re: Yet another Python textbook "Colin J. Williams" <cjw@ncf.ca> - 2012-11-22 17:41 -0500
                Re: Yet another Python textbook Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2012-11-23 03:26 +0000
            Re: Yet another Python textbook Terry Reedy <tjreedy@udel.edu> - 2012-11-22 17:12 -0500
        Re: Yet another Python textbook Dave Angel <d@davea.name> - 2012-11-21 17:58 -0500
        Re: Yet another Python textbook Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2012-11-21 16:11 -0700
        Re: Yet another Python textbook Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2012-11-21 23:26 +0000
        Re: Yet another Python textbook Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-11-21 23:32 +0000
        Re: Yet another Python textbook Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2012-11-21 17:19 -0700
        Re: Yet another Python textbook Terry Reedy <tjreedy@udel.edu> - 2012-11-21 23:04 -0500
    Re: Yet another Python textbook Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-11-20 21:55 +0000
    Re: Yet another Python textbook Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2012-11-21 09:25 +1100

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