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PLEAC project

Tom Bryan tbryan at python.net
Thu Aug 16 11:39:05 EDT 2001 
Alex Martelli wrote:

> I dispute this, given FAQ number 6 at
> http://pleac.sourceforge.net/pleac-faq.html
> 
> It gives a Ruby example, but basically it boils down to: since
> Perl automatically initializes unbound variables, and "it is
> -very- important" that PLEAC snippets do just the same as the
> Perl Cookbook snippets, then it's not acceptable to use the
> various languages in the normal way -- presumably (not spelled
> out, but what else could it mean?) *every* variable being used,
> e.g. in Ruby or Python, needs a try/except (in Python's terms)
> to simulate Perl's "convenient" 'auto-initialization'.

That's now how I read that sentence.  It seems to indicate that 
he needs the program to function properly.  That is, you can't 
simply translate 

$a = $b || $c 

to Python's 

a = b or c

That is, as in translating human language, capture the intent and 
style of a solution.  That is, don't solve a completely different problem, 
and don't solve the problems in a completely different way, but don't do a 
word for word translation.

Sounds worthwhile.  For all of the Perl programmers, they can then compare 
the Perl solution to the Python solution when they're stuck in a "I know 
how to do this in Perl" situation, but they're trying to use Python.

---Tom
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