[Python-Dev] OT: style convention: self vs. _ in new Norvig's book (original) (raw)

Guido van Rossum guido@python.org
Mon, 21 Jan 2002 11:07:59 -0500

http://norvig.com/python/python.html

Peter Norvig is about to supply Python versions of the algorithms with the 2nd edition of his AI: A Modern Approach. So far, so good. In the section about coding convetions he says: �In general, follow Guido's style conventions, �but I have some quirks that I prefer (although I could be talked out of them): ... �* instead of self as first argument to methods: def f(, x): ... I'm perfectly aware that the 'self' thing it is just a convetion, OTOH much of the cross-programmer readability of code relies on such convention. It is good, bad or irrelevant to have such an authoritative book (although about AI not Python directly) adopting such a line-noisy convention? Maybe nobody cares, but I preferred not to let this go unnoticed. Someone who cares could try to discuss the issue or make it apparent to Mr. Norvig. Opinions? regards, Samuele Pedroni.

Peter:

My apologies for butting in here without doing full research. I don't know how you reached this set of conventions, so maybe you've got a very good reason; but I don't see it on your webpage.

Two of those coding conventions look really ugly to me: 2-space indents and _ for self. I think the code will look horrible!

I think everyone should be able to make their own style choices, but I ask you to reconsider. If you have to reconsider one, I would beg you to use 'self' like everybody else. The _ name is already overloaded with multiple meanings in the Python community: it's a shorthand for the last evaluated expression in interactive mode, and some people use it as a dummy variable to assign uninteresting results to.

Almost the entire Python community is happy with 4-space indents; if you're worried about your lines getting too long, that's usually a hint that your code can be restructured in a way that's easier on the reader's eye/mind anyway.

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)