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Mon Apr 2 03:53:04 EDT 2001 · http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2001-April/104196.html

Tim:
>*everything* in
>Parrot is spelled out.  For example, it's neither "def xyz():"
>nor "sub xyz {", but "subroutine_definition xyz():" in Parrot.

I've been doing some user studies here.  I've found that
most people don't understand the _, () and : characters.
Thus, in my forthcoming article for http://www.parrotmag.com/
(in press) I propose function definition really be spelled

subroutine definition xyz take no arguments and works this way

I've found a 29.592436% improvement in understanding (R=0.1931)
with a 99.432% fewer errors in code writing (R=0.911) - so
long as a suitable IDE was used. Tests used edlin from
PC-DOS 2.01 (IBM Corporation), which most subjects found
"intuitively easy" and "a pleasure to use".)

Researchers interested in prepublication access to the
anonymized data can contact our corporate legal offices
for a release license.  (Credited universities only.)

                    Andrew
                    dalke at acm.org

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Parrot... is Python dead now?