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*Minor* python usability proposal

Eron Lloyd elloyd at lancaster.lib.pa.us
Wed Feb 12 10:28:08 EST 2003 
Greetings,

As this is my first post to the list, please allow me to apologize ahead of 
time if this subject has been mentioned before. For the record, I _did_ 
search the mailing list ahead of time, but didn't find anything.

I've been coding in Python for several years, and find the simplicity and 
straightforwardness of the language almost elegant in style. I'm at the point 
now where I'd like to begin possibly teaching it to kids, as a special 
service here at the library (we're working to develop more high-tech services 
in the computer labs).

One nit I've sort of had was the syntax for declaring functions and methods. 
The keyword "def" seems to me to be anti-intuitive compared to other 
declarative keywords, such as "class" (which is more descriptive). What I 
would like to ask the Python community is whether a more explicit naming of 
"function" for global function definitions and "method" for class method 
definitions would be desirable enough to implement.

I'm not a core developer, and cannot actually modify Python's internals to 
support this. I do think it would be in keeping with Python's "easy to learn" 
reputation that when I explain to the children about defining a method vs. a 
function, there will be some visual acuity to this logical difference between 
the two. I imagine this could be done without breaking old code...

If the interest is there, I am more than willing to produce a PEP.

Thank you,

Eron 


-- 
Eron Lloyd
Technology Coordinator
Lancaster County Library
elloyd at lancaster.lib.pa.us
Phone: 717-239-2116
Fax: 717-394-3083

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