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Python problems...

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  • P PIEBALDconsult

    :shudder: Not to diss on COBOL, but after thirty+ years I still remember having to help a fellow college student debug a COBOL program which wasn't working. She had used TABs to pad a string to the desired length -- it looked OK on a VT100, but the compiler knew better.

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    honey the codewitch
    wrote on last edited by
    #37

    That's my main problem with Python as well. Tabs? Spaces? Who knows? Source code should not be invisible. I will make a grudging exception for line based grammars like Visual BASIC. At least that's manageable.

    To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.

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    • P PIEBALDconsult

      OriginalGriff wrote:

      "use tabs" to save file space

      I'm quite certain that isn't the reasoning. I think some TABophiles use TABs to save keystrokes. I, of course, use two SPACEs per TAB and otherwise a whole :elephant:ing load of whitespace, vertical space in particular. I am not interested in "saving space" or "saving keystrokes" I need space so I can read the stuff. The simple IDE I developed for myself defaults to TABs because there is no reasonable number of SPACEs to use as a default instead. But what can save file space is that it right-trims SPACEs from lines when it saves a file -- that eliminates a lot more characters from saved files than using TABs.

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      honey the codewitch
      wrote on last edited by
      #38

      The reason I use tabs is Shift+Arrow = Highlight - Tab/Shift-Tab = indent/deindent the block of text. I use this so often when I code that I could scarcely be productive without it.

      To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.

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      • H honey the codewitch

        The reason I use tabs is Shift+Arrow = Highlight - Tab/Shift-Tab = indent/deindent the block of text. I use this so often when I code that I could scarcely be productive without it.

        To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.

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        PIEBALDconsult
        wrote on last edited by
        #39

        honey the codewitch wrote:

        Tab/Shift-Tab = indent/deindent the block of text

        Yes, using the TAB key, but it actually inserts/removes the necessary number of SPACEs rather than TABs. I don't see that TAB characters makes a difference in doing that.

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        • P PIEBALDconsult

          honey the codewitch wrote:

          Tab/Shift-Tab = indent/deindent the block of text

          Yes, using the TAB key, but it actually inserts/removes the necessary number of SPACEs rather than TABs. I don't see that TAB characters makes a difference in doing that.

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          honey the codewitch
          wrote on last edited by
          #40

          Oh, I think my editor uses tabs. So I just use them too. It would be weird anyway for me switching between Tab and spacebar. In the end i always "Format Document" and I've got the process for that tailored more or less to my liking so it's easy and it works for me.

          To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.

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          • H honey the codewitch

            Oh, I think my editor uses tabs. So I just use them too. It would be weird anyway for me switching between Tab and spacebar. In the end i always "Format Document" and I've got the process for that tailored more or less to my liking so it's easy and it works for me.

            To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.

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            PIEBALDconsult
            wrote on last edited by
            #41

            I'm not talking about using the spacebar to indent code. I don't think the issue is about what key is pressed, but about what characters are produced and stored. Back when using a VT we had to indent by using the spacebar. But with modern(ish) IDEs we use the TAB key, and have it insert either SPACEs or TABs as configured -- the result looks the same, but it isn't. I don't recall what Turbo Pascal and C/C++ did with TABs. When I use Notepad, I still have to use the spacebar to indent because it uses eight-character-wide TAB-stops, but I don't use that for code.

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            • P PIEBALDconsult

              I'm not talking about using the spacebar to indent code. I don't think the issue is about what key is pressed, but about what characters are produced and stored. Back when using a VT we had to indent by using the spacebar. But with modern(ish) IDEs we use the TAB key, and have it insert either SPACEs or TABs as configured -- the result looks the same, but it isn't. I don't recall what Turbo Pascal and C/C++ did with TABs. When I use Notepad, I still have to use the spacebar to indent because it uses eight-character-wide TAB-stops, but I don't use that for code.

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              honey the codewitch
              wrote on last edited by
              #42

              Ah, I getcha. Sorry. Yeah, I think my editor inserts 4 spaces when I hit tab.

              To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.

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              • H honey the codewitch

                Ah, I getcha. Sorry. Yeah, I think my editor inserts 4 spaces when I hit tab.

                To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.

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                PIEBALDconsult
                wrote on last edited by
                #43

                I used to do four, but I've cut down to two. Which is bizarre considering the tiny (8 pt) font I use for code.

                Mircea NeacsuM 1 Reply Last reply
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                • P PIEBALDconsult

                  I used to do four, but I've cut down to two. Which is bizarre considering the tiny (8 pt) font I use for code.

                  Mircea NeacsuM Offline
                  Mircea NeacsuM Offline
                  Mircea Neacsu
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #44

                  No, it’s logical: four spaces would indent too much in relation to font size. Full disclosure: I also use two spaces and a tiny font :-D

                  Mircea

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                  • Mircea NeacsuM Mircea Neacsu

                    No, it’s logical: four spaces would indent too much in relation to font size. Full disclosure: I also use two spaces and a tiny font :-D

                    Mircea

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                    PIEBALDconsult
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #45

                    I have the opposite opinion, I think the indent should remain constant (maybe about a 1/4 or a 1/2 inch) regardless of font size, so a tab-stop would use fewer character-places with a larger font and more with a smaller one. But I know of no IDE which uses absolute tab-stops -- I wouldn't willingly code in a word processor.

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                    • P PIEBALDconsult

                      I have the opposite opinion, I think the indent should remain constant (maybe about a 1/4 or a 1/2 inch) regardless of font size, so a tab-stop would use fewer character-places with a larger font and more with a smaller one. But I know of no IDE which uses absolute tab-stops -- I wouldn't willingly code in a word processor.

                      Mircea NeacsuM Offline
                      Mircea NeacsuM Offline
                      Mircea Neacsu
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #46

                      Let’s agree to disagree :) There is a reason however why letters have a certain height to width ratio. Also paragraph indenting, in books that use it, is proportional to font size. Your artistic eye might know better than your logical brain :)

                      Mircea

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                      • Mircea NeacsuM Mircea Neacsu

                        Let’s agree to disagree :) There is a reason however why letters have a certain height to width ratio. Also paragraph indenting, in books that use it, is proportional to font size. Your artistic eye might know better than your logical brain :)

                        Mircea

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                        PIEBALDconsult
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #47

                        Certainly, and a lot of this still stems from VT screens and such with only one or two character sizes. On a VT340 or such I used the 132 character-per-line setting because I didn't like to 80 character-per-line limit. I'm not real concerned with literature type setting. Don't get me started on illuminated letters at the start of every block... ;P

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                        • G glennPattonWork3

                          To be perfectly honest I think the retail price of Python has more to do with it popularity than anything else. Remember you get what you pay for. :omg:

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                          theoldfool
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #48

                          Granted, the "price is right". Python is very handy for one-off kind of stuff. I am using it to debug/tune Chris's CP-AI used with Blue Iris, mostly BI settings. Watch for a change in the BI log, filter it with what I am looking for and send me an SMS. Handy to get a heads up so as to check out the event. Maybe trivial, but handy. Also use it from time to time as a syslog server when looking for people trying to access sites they don't belong on using the corp LAN. Cleanup after ransomware is no fun. Now, this payroll program I an writing with Python is more of a struggle. :) An intellectual is someone who can listen to the William Tell Overture and not think of the Lone Ranger. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

                          >64 Some days the dragon wins. Suck it up.

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                          • P PIEBALDconsult

                            I'm not talking about using the spacebar to indent code. I don't think the issue is about what key is pressed, but about what characters are produced and stored. Back when using a VT we had to indent by using the spacebar. But with modern(ish) IDEs we use the TAB key, and have it insert either SPACEs or TABs as configured -- the result looks the same, but it isn't. I don't recall what Turbo Pascal and C/C++ did with TABs. When I use Notepad, I still have to use the spacebar to indent because it uses eight-character-wide TAB-stops, but I don't use that for code.

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                            Wizard of Sleeves
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #49

                            Tab spaces should be in half-inches or centimeters, depending where you live. Not characters.

                            Nothing succeeds like a budgie without teeth. To err is human, to arr is pirate.

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                            • OriginalGriffO OriginalGriff

                              Worse: space and tab are not the same: so two lines which look to be identically indented in your chosen editor can be in different code blocks as a tab is one whitespace regardless of the visual effect. X|

                              "I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!

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                              alang_icon
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #50

                              Why don't Python editors indicate tabs/spaces with some sort of symbol? Perhaps '{' for tab and ' ' for space. To be even more helpful, the editor could indicate the end of a block with '}' ?

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                              • G glennPattonWork3

                                Hi All, Being strongly encouraged (read forced) to use Python for a test rig. Okay need to get down with Kids etc. but syntactic white space 'align your tabs' (who came up with that, is it 1988, am I using a BBC micro) oh gord!!!:mad:

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                                Kate X257
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #51

                                Ok, so, I'm going to give you the single best use-case for bothering with Python. Jupyter Notebooks. It's a webserver-based environment to document, script, and generate results in a single document. You can transform notebooks into slides, so you can teach a class. You can effectively collab with people on notebooks, so you can do research across the globe. You can generate and plot all manner of graphs, so you can use it to prove something. There's markup and HTML support if you need it. Anything else --> don't use Python

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                                • P PIEBALDconsult

                                  OriginalGriff wrote:

                                  "use tabs" to save file space

                                  I'm quite certain that isn't the reasoning. I think some TABophiles use TABs to save keystrokes. I, of course, use two SPACEs per TAB and otherwise a whole :elephant:ing load of whitespace, vertical space in particular. I am not interested in "saving space" or "saving keystrokes" I need space so I can read the stuff. The simple IDE I developed for myself defaults to TABs because there is no reasonable number of SPACEs to use as a default instead. But what can save file space is that it right-trims SPACEs from lines when it saves a file -- that eliminates a lot more characters from saved files than using TABs.

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                                  Cpichols
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #52

                                  I do not understand why anyone uses spaces tbh. I also set my tab spacing to 2, but most of the legacy code I work on - and even some of the newer stuff added to that legacy code - uses spaces, and are thus untidy along the left margin and often not collapsible. Use tabs, for the love of pretty code, and for that matter, used blank lines between logical blocks. And concise comments.

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                                  • K Kate X257

                                    Ok, so, I'm going to give you the single best use-case for bothering with Python. Jupyter Notebooks. It's a webserver-based environment to document, script, and generate results in a single document. You can transform notebooks into slides, so you can teach a class. You can effectively collab with people on notebooks, so you can do research across the globe. You can generate and plot all manner of graphs, so you can use it to prove something. There's markup and HTML support if you need it. Anything else --> don't use Python

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                                    G Offline
                                    glennPattonWork3
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #53

                                    Finished the tutorial I had to do, I can say it gets around some problems (& creates it own) but there never issues I have had I mean 'you can create a web server in two lines', a good 90% of the code I have written is embedded (except a few test rig software front ends), by embedded I mean small memory, limited output and tends to be mounted in a hole under ground or under water. So web is not an issue...

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                                    • C Cpichols

                                      I do not understand why anyone uses spaces tbh. I also set my tab spacing to 2, but most of the legacy code I work on - and even some of the newer stuff added to that legacy code - uses spaces, and are thus untidy along the left margin and often not collapsible. Use tabs, for the love of pretty code, and for that matter, used blank lines between logical blocks. And concise comments.

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                                      PIEBALDconsult
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #54

                                      I see no reason it wouldn't be collapsible. What IDE can't collapse it? How does your code look if you open it in another IDE/editor? Open it in Notepad for instance.

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                                      • W Wizard of Sleeves

                                        Tab spaces should be in half-inches or centimeters, depending where you live. Not characters.

                                        Nothing succeeds like a budgie without teeth. To err is human, to arr is pirate.

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                                        PIEBALDconsult
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #55

                                        I agree, but only as an ideal as I know no IDE which can do that.

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                                        • P PIEBALDconsult

                                          I see no reason it wouldn't be collapsible. What IDE can't collapse it? How does your code look if you open it in another IDE/editor? Open it in Notepad for instance.

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                                          C Offline
                                          Cpichols
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #56

                                          a slight exaggeration and significant simplification:

                                          some code
                                          some more code that should be on the same tab as the above, but here's a loop
                                          {
                                          code that loops or whatever

                                          // a comment
                                          }

                                                // a comment
                                                code loop
                                           {
                                              code
                                          

                                          }

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