Post funny things about programming here! (Or just rant about your favourite programming language.)
I was brought up on C, did a module of Java at uni, and am doing an algorithms course which is python heavy.
My other half - who's quite handy with Python - looks in sheer horror at my code which is littered with semicolons.
I was stumped for half an hour figuring out why the Python interpreter was bouncing an error before it had even reached the main program logic... turns out a { before the block of code royally ruins the interpreter's day.
Still, I live and learn.
import " " as ;
I;don't;think;that;helps
That's actually me removing semicolons from Python.
For bonus points take their code and completely go wild with utterly random indentation and line breaks, just to drive the point home. 😈
Pfff just randomly replace tabs with 4 spaces and see the world burn
4 spaces is the preferred pythons is happy with either but the standard is 4 spaces. Vscodium ensures that.
Your editor is happy with either, but is it happy with both?
My editor will take either and convert it to 4 spaces. Python can use spaces or tabs but not both in the same file.
Buahahahah I know what to do next commit
And random curly brackets to create useless scope limits.
How does one manually add a semicolon? vs. automatically?
JS formatters add them if the project requires it
Manually would be if it prompted you every time you every time the program inserts one. No, wait...
~~Python~~Amateur programmers
This is why linting and auto-format on save exists in IDEs. Don't make things harder on yourself.
I have a plugin in VSCode to remind me not to forget the semicolons
can I interest you in some delicious linters
I was taught python by my school but I would rather write in other languages but the difference in formatting still gets me after years
Folks acting like Python is the only language without semicolons. 😏
I got tripped up so many time in the last 3 weeks using PHP after years in ML family languages. I am already newlining & it’d be poor style to put more than one statement on a line so what is the point of these semicolons?
In some languages
a newline does not
necessarily indicate
the end of a statement.
In others, sometimes it could, but would leave things ambiguous
as to whether the statement was ended or not.
And so, punctuation is necessary.
But newlines + indentation are supported by a lot of languages & when it is, it’s easier to read since the prevailing convention is already to newline, then in indent. When you follow the usual coding styles or autoformatted & removed the semicolons, you’ve gained nothing for readability & added noise. I much prefer the languages that take this convention & bake it in so you don’t have to have that that visual noise—and in these languages, I never felt the parsing rules were ambiguous.
it’d be poor style to put more than one statement on a line
Unlike Python, most languages do not endorse a specific concept of style. You're free to dabble in all the bad style choices you like, on the off chance that once in a blue moon they prove to be situationally useful.