[Python-3000] PEP 3125 -- a modest proposal (original) (raw)

Andrew Koenig ark at acm.org
Tue May 8 15:08:51 CEST 2007

Too dangerous. The most common Python syntax error (by far, even for experienced users) is omission of a colon. If the missing colon starts to have its own special meaning, that would not be a good thing.

It's not special -- omitting it would have exactly the same effect as omitting a colon does today in a single-line statement. That is, today you can write

if x < y: x = y

or you can forget the colon and write

if x < y x = y

and (usually) be diagnosed by the compiler. My proposal would make

if x < y:
    x = y

and

if x < y
    x = y

have the same meanings as (respectively) the first two examples above, so the fourth example would still be diagnosed as an error for the same reason.

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