> http://norvig.com/python/python.html > > Peter Norvig is about to supply > Python versions of the algorithms with > the 2nd edition of his AI: A Modern Approach. > > So far, so good. In the section about > coding convetions he says: > > ¦In general, follow Guido's style conventions, > ¦but I have some quirks that I prefer (although I could be talked out of them): > ... > ¦* _ instead of self as first argument to methods: def f(_, x): > ... > > I'm perfectly aware that the 'self' thing it is just a convetion, > OTOH much of the cross-programmer readability > of code relies on such convention. > > It is good, bad or irrelevant to have such > an authoritative book (although about AI not > Python directly) adopting such a line-noisy > convention? > > Maybe nobody cares, but I preferred not to > let this go unnoticed. Someone who cares > could try to discuss the issue or make it > apparent to Mr. Norvig. > > Opinions? > > regards, Samuele Pedroni. Peter: My apologies for butting in here without doing full research. I don't know how you reached this set of conventions, so maybe you've got a very good reason; but I don't see it on your webpage. Two of those coding conventions look really ugly to me: 2-space indents and _ for self. I think the code will look horrible! I think everyone should be able to make their own style choices, but I ask you to reconsider. If you have to reconsider one, I would beg you to use 'self' like everybody else. The _ name is already overloaded with multiple meanings in the Python community: it's a shorthand for the last evaluated expression in interactive mode, and some people use it as a dummy variable to assign uninteresting results to. Almost the entire Python community is happy with 4-space indents; if you're worried about your lines getting too long, that's usually a hint that your code can be restructured in a way that's easier on the reader's eye/mind anyway. --Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)
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