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[Python-Dev] pep8 reasoning

Skip Montanaro skip at pobox.com
Thu Apr 24 13:06:40 CEST 2014 
On Thu, Apr 24, 2014 at 2:18 AM, Chris Withers <chris at simplistix.co.uk> wrote:
> What were the compelling reasons to go from mixedCase to
> underscore_separated? What's considered the best approach for migrating from
> the former to the latter?

I never recall Python "going from" camelCase to separate_words. The
descriptions of best practice you see in the PEP were always that way,
as I recall. If you have a code base that does it some other way, I
would leave it be. The primary hunk of code I work with is full of
Boost.Python-generated bindings for C++ libraries, so leaks C++ naming
style out of all its pores. A lot of the other pure Python code in
this code base was written by people who were mostly C++ programmers,
and didn't know PEP 8 from a hole in the ground. Consequently, the
whole thing is riddled with all sorts of non-pep8-ness. I used to want
to change everything, but just let that sleeping dog lie. I have
better things to do with my life. New stuff I write tends to be much
more pep8-ish.

Skip
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