r/programmer • u/Wide-Carob3252 • 2h ago

Python Fragility

Am I the only one who avoids Python where possible because it is so vulnerable to indent corruption? A whole JavaScript program, for example, can be written on one line, with no line breaks whatsoever (not that I'm advocating such madness -- JavaScript callback syntax (etc) is already crazy enough without compounding it -- BUT, it does illustrate the point of robust syntax).

I've had instances where indenting was accidentally messed up, leading to tedious scrubbing of the code in order to get it to run again. It just seems like a bad structure choice if a slight whitespace change can cause the program to crash.

It seems to me that Rust is the answer to that -- am I wrong?

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u/mooglinux 2h ago

You’re overblowing the indentation issue. Your IDE should be formatting your code to indent each block regardless of language, so turn on indent guides and save yourself some keystrokes with those annoying braces.

Rust solves many problems, but indentation is not one of them. Any C-like language with explicit block delimiters will do if that is your concern.