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Pythonic Whitespace

Name: Anonymous 2011-11-05 21:16

Why does /prog/ dislike Python's use of whitespace? I have never had any problems with Python concerning whitespace, but numerous with C/C++.

Problems with C-style whitespace/bracing:
1) Code can be misleading, because while one reads indentation, it's not significant to the grammar. For instance:

if(true)
    a();
    b(); // This isn't actually in the body of the if.

2) There are over 9000 different ways of aligning bracing. Somehow, the most popular involves wasting a whole line for the opening brace'{'. Interestingly, such code always seems to neglect blank lines everywhere, leading to abominations like:

int a, b;
char c;
if(true)
{
    // do something
}

Why is the line of the if grouped together with the declarations of the variables!? What is wrong with the more readable and structured?:

int a, b;
char c;

if(true) {
    // do something
}

One can't say it's because the blank is a waste, because they often use nearly blank lines with solely '{' all the time!

Of course, Python saves even another line by eliminating the need for a closing brace '{'.

tldr: Why is Python's use of whitespace bad?

Name: Anonymous 2011-11-14 13:43

Yeah but then again, who doesn't indent their code?

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