[Python-Dev] PEP 215 redux: toward a simplified consensus? (original) (raw)

Skip Montanaro skip@pobox.com
Mon, 25 Feb 2002 16:01:53 -0600 

BAW> There's been no usability testing yet to know whether $-strings
BAW> actually will be easier to use <wink>, but I've got plenty of
BAW> anecdotal evidence that %-strings suck badly for useability by
BAW> non-Python programmers.

I presume your anecdotal evidence comes from Mailman. If you have a pair of functions that implement the %-to-$-to-% transformation and can catch the missing 's' problem automatically (is that the biggest problem non- programmers have?), then why not just use this in Mailman and be done with the problem? In fact, why not just document Mailman so that "%(var)" is the correct form and silently add the "missing" 's' in your transformation step?

That %-strings suck for Mailman administrators does not mean they necessarily suck for programmers. The two populations obviously overlap somewhat, but not tremendously. I have never had a problem with %-strings, certainly not with omitting the trailing 's'. Past experience with printf() doesn't obviously pollute the sample population too much either, since the %(var)s type of format is not supported by printf().

BAW> Still, if $-strings are better for non-programmers, maybe they're
BAW> better for programmers too.  There's certainly evidence that
BAW> translators get them wrong too.

What do you mean by "translators"?

Skip