From: Ryan Leavengood <leavengood@...>
Date: 2007-05-18T23:03:32+09:00
Subject: Re: Why not adopt "Python Style" indentation for Ruby?

On 5/18/07, Chris Dew <cmsdew@googlemail.com> wrote:
>
> What are the reasons why this isn't used/implemented/liked?  It would
> be a small change to the interpreter.  Enabling meaningful indentation
> would only make 'end' optional, not invalid; backwards compatibility
> wouldn't be a problem.
>
> (I use both Ruby and Python.  I think indentation is one of the few
> *language* features where Python leads Ruby.)

This is a very subjective thing. A lot of people don't use Python
because they don't like this feature.

In my case I like the symmetry that Ruby's matching end provides. I
find it makes the code easier to read and maintain. I've written and
maintained some Python code that "trails off into nowhere" with a long
series of indentations. I find this "stairway" code rather painful to
work with.

But if it is possible to add this feature to Ruby without breaking
anything, it could be interesting. It would certainly draw a few
Pythonists to check out Ruby.

Ryan