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[Python-Dev] PEP 461 Final?

Stephen J. Turnbull stephen at xemacs.org
Mon Jan 20 08:10:40 CET 2014 
Ethan Furman writes:

 > > This argument is specious.
 > 
 > I don't think so.  I think it's a good argument for the future of
 > Python code.

I agree that restricting bytes '%'-formatting to ASCII is a good idea,
but you should base your arguments on a correct description of what's
going on.  It's not an issue of representability.  It's an issue of
"we should support this for ASCII because it's a useful, nearly
universal convention, and we should not support ASCII supersets
because that leads to mojibake."

 > Then you could have your text /and/ your numbers be in your own
 > language.

My language uses numerals other than those in the ASCII repertoire in
a rather stylized way.  I can't use __format__ for that, because it
depends on context, anyway.  Most of the time the digits in the ASCII
set are used (especially in tables and the like).  I believe that's
true for all languages nowadays.

 > Lots of features can be abused.  That doesn't mean we shouldn't
 > talk about the intended use cases and encourage those.

I only objected to claims that issues of "representability" and "what
I can do with __format__" support the preferred use cases, not to
descriptions of the preferred use cases.
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