Vitalik Buterin on Farcaster

Vitalik Buterin pfp

Vitalik Buterin

"continue" might be the worst-named keyword in python. Like, consider this code: for i in range(100): if i % 5 == 0: continue print(i) It prints out numbers that are not multiples of 5. But if you give it to someone who is not experienced in python, they might think the exact opposite!

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Mark V. pfp

If Python has it wrong, then other languages have it too - that being said, it's great that Python does not diverge too much with keywords from most commonly used languages.

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Nico pfp

Well just revert the condition then, why make things complicated? for i in range(100): if i % 5 != 0: print(i)

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links 🏴 pfp

Honestly never thought about it like that. It’s a common keyword in a ton of languages: C/C++, Java, JS, PHP, etc. Does python handle it differently than other languages? Seems like they all treat it the same.

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karmacoma pfp

feels pretty natural when you come from C/Java/other imperative language

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Suhail Kakar pfp

also, `except` try: some_function() except SomeError as err: some_handle(err) why isn't it called catch like literally everywhere else in humanity?

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Patrick Atwater | 🌱🚴3🌐 pfp

Patrick Atwater | 🌱🚴3🌐

Hard disagree This is actually pretty plain language from the perspective of formal logic The standard isn't lay person English or any lay language Python is amazing at being intuitive for the mathematically inclined That's the one trained in pencil and paper math this makes total sense And it's something that makes sense with a simple addition of tabbing

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Garrett pfp

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Nicki Sanders pfp

That is confusing!

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Mirko 🔵🟡 .⌐◨-◨ pfp

Mirko 🔵🟡 .⌐◨-◨

I think break, continue and goto are the biggest code smell ever. I always ask to remove them if possible during reviews!

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Tempe Techie pfp

@tempetechie.eth

What would be better? "skip", "ignore", "next"?

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⋆♱ 9̷0̷†մղ ♱⋆ pfp

⋆♱ 9̷0̷†մղ ♱⋆

what then should be used, skip?

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joshisdead.eth pfp

@joshisdead.eth

$moose might chew this

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Fots pfp

i believe it is natural, because it intuitively means to continue the loop - just skipping the rest of the current iteration. once you understand that the loop itself keeps running, the keyword makes perfect sense

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Rafi pfp

Can devs do something

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abranti pfp

what would you name it?

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beenaid.RVV Orochi KGeN pfp

beenaid.RVV Orochi KGeN

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Mrnv pfp

The word "continue" can be really confusing, especially for beginners. It seems logical to expect that when continue is triggered, the code will continue executing the remaining instructions inside the loop, rather than jumping over them.

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OPi pfp

When the keyword it taken in this wrong meaning… that makes no sense. Because that makes no senses to put a keyword to continue to the next line. This is the usual execution path. So, even for not experienced (whatever Python or not), it is a big hint that the meaning of this keyword is something else.

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Irect341 pfp

Hey Vitalik! Spot - on observation about the "continue" keyword in Python. Your example really drives home how its name can be misleading for those new to the language. It's one of those quirks that makes Python both interesting and a bit of a head - scratcher at times. Thanks for sharing this thought - provoking take. It'll definitely make developers think twice when using that keyword!

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