a better Python

This post led me to an interesting paper titled An Empirical Investigation into Programming Language Syntax. Now, since I'm a Python sucker, here is what I would change in Python in order to follow advice from that paper:

    before       after
    ------       -----
     !=          not=
      %          mod
   string        text
  try-except  check-error
   finally       always
    raise        alert
     def       procedure
    print       output
   import        use
  int/float     number

The most surprising finding is that both programmers and non-programmers found while and for not intuitive for looping constructs. The preferred alternatives are repeat and loop. Of these, I prefer loop, but it does not read as well as while:

while count < 3:
    count = action()

loop count < 3:
    count = action()

Quorum, the language by those responsible for this paper, went with:

repeat while (count < 3)
    count = action()
end

To mimic that in Python, any of the following two sound fine (I prefer if to while; less syntax is better):

repeat if count < 3:
    count = action()

loop if count < 3:
    count = action()

That means an infinite loop would be:

loop if True:
    action()

Or for that special case, a shortcut can just be this simple:

loop:
    action()

I wonder what cycling through items in a container would look like. In Python, it looks like:

for item in container:
    action(item)

This feels as natural as anything, but then again I been doing Python for a number of years, so the bias could be heavy. Following is an attempt:

loop in range(3):
    action()

It mimics this Python syntax, which I actually don't like, since we don't always need the items of the container:

for _ in range(3):
    action()

Quorum, the academic language mentioned above, does it like:

repeat 3 times
    action()
end

I don't like that either; feels contrived. The Python way strikes me as a good compromise, especially given how general it is. I will try again with the loop syntax:

loop item in container:
    action(item)

You have to admit it doesn't read as nice as:

for item in container:
    action(item)

It should be flexible to accommodate more than just one value on each iteration, so should have an equivalent for this Python code:

for index, item in enumerate(container):
    action(index, item)

Here goes:

loop index, item in enumerate(container):
    action(index, item)

Now, for the much-loved Python list comprehensions:

[procedure(item) for item in container]

We would instead have:

[procedure(item) loop item in container]

So, apart from being highly-rated for being intuitive, loop also provides a consistent looping construct, whereas Python has 2, while and for, both of which received low points in the study. Interesting.

If someone (me?) were to implement these changes to Python, the result would not be named a Python variant (they are just too drastic), but more a Python descendent... a better Python.