[Python-3000] Support for PEP 3131 (original) (raw)

"Martin v. Löwis" martin at v.loewis.de
Tue May 22 07:58:17 CEST 2007

| I'm not aware of an algorithm that | can do transliteration for all Unicode characters.

Were you proposing to allow all Unicode characters in Python names?-)

Not sure how to interpret your question: no, I'm not proposing to allow all Unicode characters, just a selected subset (but then, I don't know a universal transliteration algorithm for that subset, either).

| Therefore, I cannot add transliteration into the PEP.

Non sequitor. How I read this is "Because I do not know how to do something that does not need to be done, I cannot do something that could be done."

No. You should read it "because I don't know how to do it, I will not do it".

My proposal was that the Unicode characters allowed in Python identifiers be limited to those with a transliteration, either current or to be developed by those who want to use a particular character set.

But what would be the purpose of doing so? Mere existence of a transliteration algorithm surely isn't what you are after.

While the PEPs acceptance as-is (for which I congratulate you for your persistence) makes transliteration moot as an acceptibility enhancement, it does not change its desireability for use purposes. To repeat: without it, national character identifiers will tend to ghettoize code. While this might be a minor issue for Chinese, it will be a bigger issue for people writing in Thai or Ibo or other languages with small pioneering groups of Python programmers.

What I fail to see is how existence of a transliteration algorithm would remove the ghettoization. It must be used somehow, no?

Regards, Martin

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