Still only? Beer coasters are thinner than that.

There's actually an Emacs command for that.

It's increasingly apparent that the color of "the truth" is green - $$$.

And if the indenting is, somehow, lost or messed up, your program logic is toast. Not so with other languages. So, yes, relying solely on white space for correct program logic is a potential weakness. It's mind boggling that you can see, or admit, this little fact.

In a perfect world you're correct and it shouldn't be an issue, but the world isn't perfect. The strong Python coding standard means nothing after this simple vi command: 1,$s/^ *//

"have to use" ? - Citation please.

So, you're a snob. (Your apps probably reflect this too.)

A snob who's never heard of CheckBoxes and a Submit button on a Form - which will (re)load faster than your Javascript/Ajax laden pages.

Newer isn't always better - newbie

If I had to pick the single most annoying thing, it would sites that require Javascript to perform even the simplest thing, like ButtonPress or to display the main article text, that can be performed with straight HTML. I mean - seriously.

Oh you were actually serious. Well, then...

Examining this thread and your comments as a whole, it's a shame you can't attempt make technical arguments without resorting to demeaning the other person. This speaks volumes about your character and the strength of your arguments - or lack thereof with respect to both.

Best wishes.

I know, right? But I kid you not: Strong Spaces

[ I got modded "Funny" for that, but hope that's just because "Scary" isn't an option. ]

You are hilarious. I wish I could mod you +1 Funny. Oh, to live in the fantasy world in which you, barely coherently, described, where nothing ever goes wrong and/or you never have to deal with foreign code (person, editor, source, etc...). I especially liked the bit where you deny, then acknowledge the language's failings. Man-o-man you have a bright future as a comedian - because if you were serious, it's obviously *not* programming. Perhaps as a Script Kiddy, but not actual programming.

Well done Krusty; well done.

Careful Grasshopper. I have 30+ years as a Unix system programmer/admin and Unix/Windows software developer on - literally - just about every type of system there is from PCs to Cray supercomputers and probably have more programming experience than you, in more languages. I've worked at NASA, The New York Times and, presently, a large defense contractor - all in both research and production environments.

That aside, you haven't countered my points at all. Sure, perhaps you find Python easier to read, write and clearer because it's more compact (that last point is extremely debatable). Those are all good points, but you haven't (and can't) offer any argument that white-space block delimiting offers any actual enhanced programming benefit over brace and other delimited languages. There are, in fact, are many, many posts in this thread alone demonstrating clear and practical problems with Python indenting.

And, in point of fact, the Python and Nim language developers have specifically stated that their languages use the off-side rule because they believe it to be "more elegant", so I can blame them for not thinking beyond that to more practical issues. Issues that apparently plague real people, doing real work, in diverse environments that would not and/or are not issues in brace/other delimited languages.

Don't let your love for the language blind you to its problems or shortcomings.

Code correctness that relies on how far one has "gravitated" in their coding style and/or whether people agree on and/or adhere to those styles is the issue. All your brace-delimited examples work the same. White-space delimited variations won't.

Yes, but it's quite possible that the code won't parse correctly w/o the braces (or with extra braces), where improperly indented Python probably will, and just execute incorrectly. I'd rather have a parse/compile error than run-time error or, more likely, improper execution with no error. Sure, examples can be made either way, but missing/extra braces *can* be detected by the parser. Missing/extra white-space, not so much.

Regardless of whether one (dis)likes white-space delimited blocking, it's main driving force is the ego of the language developer who has declared it "more elegant" than braces, even though the syntax offers absolutely no enhanced benefit.

In addition, according to the Language Manual, Nim supports the directive "#! strongSpaces" to allow white space to affect operator precedence. An example from the manual:

So with/without the directive:

• with: ((foo+4)*4 == 8)
• w/o: foo+((4 * 4) == 8)

In addition, claiming "more attention" by submitting a post containing several links to articles about the subject seems a little astroturfy. While certainly a small circle, neither I nor anyone I know has heard of this language until now, and still probably won't ever care.

In addition, this tidbit, from the Nim homepage, under "Nim is elegant" make's it a no-go for me:

As with Python, this is retarded and unnecessary.

Or a sadder, non-action-movie version, Never Let Me Go - based on the book by Kazuo Ishiguro.