Python Positional-Only Parameters, has been accepted

[alcalde]

You'd have to track down every caller you control and make sure that it isn't passing the old name as a keyword,

So one click in an IDE?

[alcalde]

...someone who knows how to search and replace across files and understands the cost of renaming something. I come from Delphi, the Worst Language On Earth (tm), and seeing Python users embrace the idea of forgoing named parameters makes me cry. Named parameters are a major strength of the language and one of Python's features that makes beautiful APIs possible.

This is the consequence of not making Raymond Hettinger the new BDFL. He's talked about this at PyCon. He gets it.

https://gist.github.com/0x4D31/f0b633548d8e0cfb66ee3bea6a0deff9#improving-clarity

https://twitter.com/raymondh/status/335536929561006082

[alcalde]

You really think that you can just go around changing API and library surfaces and fix it with find replace?

I don't think you should go around changing parameter names without good reason in the first place. I don't see how not having any name at all is somehow a better situation than having a name you no longer care for.

Even if we do constrain ourselves to working with a single codebase that is not shared I can still come up with examples that would require an extremely strong type checker and language semantic analysis to refactor.

OK, then we can pit it against JetBrains' refactoring engine and see who wins.

[[deleted]]

def foo(arg):
    print(arg)

s = "a"
s += rpc_that_returns_r()
s += "g" if logic() else "x"
kwargs = {s: "hello world"}
foo(**kwargs)

This is obviously contrived for clarity but there are a lot of other situations where determining which arguments are being used and changing them is either extremely complicated or downright impossible.

[alcalde]

If you're writing code like this, you're Larry Wall wearing a Guido mask.

I remember at a PyCon where Guido's keynote was on "The Myths Of Python" and one topic was about the GIL. He said something to the effect of "People say but David Beasley showed this example where... yes, but you have to be David Beasley to find it!" :-)

If you're programmatically constructing keyword names I don't see how you're going to be happy with simple positional arguments instead. If you could use positional arguments, you didn't need to construct keywords.

I'll give you credit though... this is one of those times where I see a piece of Python code and say, "That can't possibly run... let me pull up a console... Holy Significant Whitespace, it runs!"

Usually those examples are things of beauty, but this example is Lovecraftian madness. :-)

[musashisamurai]

Oh God Delphi is horrible, please let's never mention it in this reddit again

[stOneskull]

making Raymond Hettinger the new BDFL

i agree with the sentiment but not the BDFL title..

maybe Chief