RE: [TFUI] pytest is better than assert{ 2.0 } (except it's in Python! Bleah!)

"Tanksley, William D. Jr." <[email protected]> Tue, 30 Nov 2010 08:07:16 -0800
Newsgroups gmane.comp.programming.test-first-user-interfaces
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Yes, and note that Python is finally getting rid of its "print" magic too.

BASIC's PRINT statement is far from its only problem -- essentially the who=
le language is a patchwork of special forms.

...and I'm not sure about the whole "is more important than" thing. I'm not=
 big on prescriptiveness in computer languages. Yes, reflection is a good t=
hing; but it's not the _only_ thing. There is no perfect language, because =
the universal law holds: "All software sucks." Tradeoffs everywhere.

-Wm Tanksley

> -----Original Message-----
> From: [email protected]
> Subject: Re: [TFUI] pytest is better than assert{ 2.0 } (except it's in
> Python! Bleah!)
>=20
> > I don't think Go has any of the features I mentioned; in fact, of the
> > features I've seen, only garbage collection is common to the two
> > languages. In particular, Go doesn't have a prettyprinting assert
> > statement, which is important in the context of this conversation :-
> ).
>=20
> Noted but I suspect the ability to build a reflecting assert, at the
> language level, is more important than simply providing one.
>=20
> The=A0cautionary tale here is BASIC's magic PRINT statement. It does
> things nothing else in the language can do, because it's implemented
> at the parser level. Don't do that!


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      <p>Yes, and note that Python is finally getting rid of its &quot;prin=
t&quot; magic too.<br>
<br>
BASIC's PRINT statement is far from its only problem -- essentially the who=
le language is a patchwork of special forms.<br>
<br>
...and I'm not sure about the whole &quot;is more important than&quot; thin=
g. I'm not big on prescriptiveness in computer languages. Yes, reflection i=
s a good thing; but it's not the _only_ thing. There is no perfect language=
, because the universal law holds: &quot;All software sucks.&quot; Tradeoff=
s everywhere.<br>
<br>
-Wm Tanksley<br>
<br>
&gt; -----Original Message-----<br>
&gt; From: <a href=3D"mailto:TestFirstUserInterfaces%40yahoogroups.com">Tes=
[email protected]</a><br>
&gt; Subject: Re: [TFUI] pytest is better than assert{ 2.0 } (except it's i=
n<br>
&gt; Python! Bleah!)<br>
&gt; <br>
&gt; &gt; I don't think Go has any of the features I mentioned; in fact, of=
 the<br>
&gt; &gt; features I've seen, only garbage collection is common to the two<=
br>
&gt; &gt; languages. In particular, Go doesn't have a prettyprinting assert=
<br>
&gt; &gt; statement, which is important in the context of this conversation=
 :-<br>
&gt; ).<br>
&gt; <br>
&gt; Noted but I suspect the ability to build a reflecting assert, at the<b=
r>
&gt; language level, is more important than simply providing one.<br>
&gt; <br>
&gt; The=A0cautionary tale here is BASIC's magic PRINT statement. It does<b=
r>
&gt; things nothing else in the language can do, because it's implemented<b=
r>
&gt; at the parser level. Don't do that!<br>
<br>
</p>

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