if x < 0:
...      x = 0
...      print 'Negative changed to zero'
... elif x == 0:
...      print 'Zero'
... elif x == 1:
...      print 'Single'
... else:
...      print 'More'

“elif” ??? What the fuck is wrong with “else if”, or even “elseif” ?

Who is this “elif”? Something from Lord of the Rings mayhap ?

There is such a thing as too fucking explicit.

Never mind the fact that shit like ctags loves it. Where’s pytags ?

In a language without these tokens, you’re fucked.

Of course, flat procedural code and “bailing early” is better, but this is true regardless of the language.

However let’s compare

while True:
    prelim_one()
    X = prelim_two()
    Y = another_thing(X)
    if X > Y:
        break
    yet_another(X, Y)
    prepare_next(X+Y)
and_another_thing()

to

while (1) {
    prelim_one();
    X = prelim_two();
    Y = another_thing(X);
    if ( X>Y )
        break;
    yet_another(X, Y);
    prepare_next(X+Y);
}
and_another_thing();

A single extra line and judicious use of semicolons, brackets and braces has just separated all code neatly, and delineated everything to editor, and eye as to where they belong.
Sorry, but C syntax wins as far as readability is concerned.

Which is why most statically typed languages have a printf() style formatting function, and dynamically typed languages offers a plain $ dynamic substitution within strings, or printf() style functionality. Let’s let the programmer decide on his choice of poison…

So, Python would like you address a string as an object using string methods and all of the syntactical “special cases” that has been added on top of strings.

And as a result, something basic, something that nearly every language can do, such as addressing a string as an array Python does not allow!

Python doesn’t allow common string manipulation such as word[0] = ‘x’, as can be done in C, Perl or PHP.

Python does not allow the common mechanism of variable substitution in a strings such as $var=”$bar”;

So Python saves you on the curlies, and braces and fucks you on strings. The most primitive fucking programming construct known to man!

Give me more practicality please.

Please don’t toss a fucking exception thank you very much, because I, the programmer have probably got more of an idea about what I care about than you do thank you very much Mr Interpreter.

You get along with running as much of the code as you possibly can and I’ll get along with the business of deciding what’s wrong and right. Don’t get in my fucking way. I’ll throw the exceptions when I want to, and of the kind I want to, and when I feel like catching them. System level stuff should never get in my way because otherwise we end up in Java-land.

And sprinkling the parsing of shit like integers and real numbers with try()’s and finally() isn’t useful thanks, I thought we were trying do more with less. I’ll check if I like the integer or not.

As a programmer I kind of like not being in a fucking sandbox. If I did, I’d be coding Java.

EXCEPT if it’s basic syntax and language constructs.

So, because of dutch we had to get “{True: x, False: y}[a > b]”

Yeah, that was the really fucking obvious way to do it 🙄 It’s nice to be different and all, but not to the point of fucking stupidity. Obvious stupidity.

“Unlike a C string, Python strings cannot be changed. Assigning to an indexed position in the string results in an error:”

>>> word[0] = 'x'
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "", line 1, in ?

However, creating a new string with the combined content is easy and efficient:

>>> 'x' + word[1:]
'xelpA'
>>> 'Splat' + word[4]
'SplatA'

Wait, what the fuck? Easy? Efficient? Sorry I missed that fucking explanation. Or maybe, it was just too hard to explain away that problem?

>>>import honk.great.idea.and.however.the.fuck.deeply.you.want.to.nest.it.
>>>   print "hello"
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "", line 1, in 
>>>> Exception "print" does not do what you think it does. Unless you're Dutch.

Namespaces are dangerous. Trust me, I once gave a TCL project to a bunch of girls that figured out what namespaces was. They thought it was all “neat” and “tidy”. I thought that I couldn’t read identifiers nested twelve levels deep. Namespaces pollute the basics of language.

Don’t do it. Create an object instance. Tada. Instant namespace.

Namespaces are useful, but for fucks sakes, don’t “honk it as a great idea”.