Python & unicode

[P]

The why is the same as why we write in English on this newsgroup.
Not because English is better, but because that leaves a single
language for everyone to use to communicate in.

Fair enough. Though people can communicate in other languages
if they want, or have specific newsgroups for other languages.

If you allow
non-ASCII characters in symbol names, your source code will be
unviewable (and uneditable) for people with ASCII-only terminals,
never mind how comprehensible it might otherwise be.

So how does one edit non ascii string literals at the moment?

It is a
least-common-denominator argument, not a "this is better"
argument.

If one edited the whole file in the specified coding
then one wouldn't have to switch editing modes when
editing strings which is a real pain.

 

[Scott David Daniels]

So how does one edit non ascii string literals at the moment?

Generally by using editors that leave bytes alone if they cannot
be understood. For many applications where I'll work on a program,
I don't need to read the strings, but rather the code that uses
those strings. I am at a disadvantage if I cannot understand the
derivation of the names, no doubt, but at least I know when two
letters are different, and what tokens are distinct.

If one edited the whole file in the specified coding
then one wouldn't have to switch editing modes when
editing strings which is a real pain.

No question, but ASCII is available as a subset for many encodings.
As you might note, my conception is that I might be helping on a
program with many programmers. Python spent a lot of effort to
avoid favoring a character set as much as possible, while still
being a medium for sharing code.

--Scott David Daniels
(e-mail address removed)

 

[Marc 'BlackJack' Rintsch]

I understand, but I have a feeling of attempt at hegemony. Is english
language really least-common-denominator for a russian who writes into
cyrillic, or not anglophone chinese?

And, did you think of klingons?

Klingons don't do Python, they hack ('n slash) in var'aq:

http://www.geocities.com/connorbd/varaq/

SCNR,
Marc 'BlackJack' Rintsch

 

[Serge Orlov]

Michel Claveau - abstraction méta-galactique non triviale en fuite

Hi !

Sorry, but I think that, for russians, english is an *add-on*,
and not a common-denominator.

You miss the point, programs are not English writings, they are written
in computer languages using libraries with English identifiers. On the
other hand comments and documentation are text. And Russian programmers
do write Russian comments in programs.
I've seen that a lot of times. On the other hand I've never seen any
serious program written with Russian identifiers. Sure such programs
may exist but my point is that they are very rare. That makes English
the language of choice for Russian programmers. I'm not against the
ability to write identifiers in my native Russian language, I don't
mind it. I'm just trying to get the message across that Russian
programmers are not dying for such feature and almost all of them don't
use such feature in languages that permit Unicode identifiers.

English is the most known language, but it is not common. It is
the same difference as between co-operation and colonization.

When I hear "It's the same difference as ..." it raises a red flag in
my mind. Often, fine words have no connection to the subject. I can say
that it's the same difference as between ability to drive a car and
ability to walk. The car doesn't own you

Serge.