Small suggestion on Python nested code blocks

I've been coding in Python for a while now, and there's one thing that I've found problematic with regard to nested code blocks. It comes down to the age-old Python debate about whether you like Python's "indentation level" approach to determining what block of code a statement belongs to.

In general I actually like the Python approach. For one thing it removes the debates (going back to at least C) when developing in most languages around what style to use for braces. Especially for people who don't realize that K&R is the way to go.

The problem I have is when I have multiple levels of nesting that ends up being like an overhanging cliff that you can fall off of if you're not careful.

if one_thing:
    do_something()
    if another thing:
        do_another_something()
        if third_thing():
            do_yet_another_thing()
    do_thing_after_cliff()

The two problems I have are that it is harder to keep track of what level of nesting a statement is in for some cases. The bigger problem is if the statement do_thing_after_cliff() accidentally gets modified to be at another indentation level it can be very non-obvious. This can come up when moving chunks of code from one indentation level to another.

I've started using a simple trick to help with this, and for me it really helps visually. Basically I use a double comment "##" where I would normally put the "}" if I was working in another language.

For me this provides the visual cue that helps. And it also should make it obvious enough if statements accidentally get modified to the wrong indentation level.

if one_thing:
    do_something()
    if another thing:
        do_another_something()
        if third_thing():
            do_yet_another_thing()
        ##
    ##
    do_thing_after_cliff()
##

I don't use it absolutely everywhere, but it helps in the cases where your eye doesn't immediately feel comfortable with how blocks might line up.

First startup nostalgia

Going through the bootstrap process on our company has brought back memories of starting day at my first startup.

It was back in '96. Not everyone was doing or had been in a startup before so it felt really new. I remember being surprised that we wouldn't be working in a garage or a basement. And that there'd be a 401(k) and health plan. I thought it was supposed to be tough?

Though I signed on before the Series A closed I wasn't to start until it did close. That felt like a looooonnngg wait. Probably about 4 weeks in reality.

The great memory that I have of that time was reporting for the first day of work, which was the first day there was office space. Walked into the office space, and there was - nothing. No cubicles. No chairs. No desks. No computers. A big empty room. (Cool! This WAS going to be a startup after all!)

Our VP of engineering brought in donuts that morning along with some chairs and a whiteboard and we were off and running... By the end of the first week we had cubes, desks, chairs, and some plans.

There's nothing like the feeling of starting from a blank slate. I'm on the 4th time with that feeling and it never gets old. There's also an excitement to getting by with less while you help get everything in place. In my second startup my personal laptop running Windows 98 served as our corporate Internet gateway using dialup while we waited for our T1 install!

The first three times there were network devices to install, desks to help put together, and of course fundamental early decisions to make sitting or standing around a whiteboard.

This time that's all replaced pretty much with services to provision in the cloud. No office space, so no office network. Email and collaboration via Google. Product deployment on servers in far off data centers.

One thing remains the same though. That great feeling of the fresh start. Balancing priorities and trade-offs and trying to maximize the value of what you're going to build.

Very addictive - I highly recommend it.

Unintentional Google Voice Humor

Been using Google Voice for a couple months and it can be somewhat amusing when the voice recognition for the voicemail transcription doesn't quite pick it up right. Had a good one yesterday though.

"If you i just wondering if you could give me a favor. When you come back or when you're on your way back. Can you pick me up like I D cap promo much at all at Starbucks just totally wiped out. I have no idea why I feel so it I think I've been drugs. But anyway, I, I'm gonna trying to the blood down for a nap this morning and I think, up opportunity. Thank you. I mean to you later. Bye"

As a friend pointed out - notice that it didn't have a problem picking out "Starbucks". No surprise, since Google's all about the advertising!

The full corrected message isn't worth it, but for the record, "I D cap promo much at all" is actually "a decaf Carmel Machiato".

The best message transcription fail might be this next one. Although in this case it isn't to be blamed because it was my wife and 17 month old daughter speaking in Portuguese.

"I saw what at the cottage for the dangers visa. Thank you. Bye bye these pages knows. Bye bye. Tom O these Aunt Karen these whoa whoa. Hey, but cos he meant 9 bye bye delivering basis hello."

If the system were a human it would have been pulling its hair out on that one!

"Statistics is the new grammar" - Wired

This article in Wired this month is right along the lines I've been thinking for a while now. Our current education priorities so poorly set our kids up to deal with the world of today.

I truly think it's not useful to have opinions on a large range of topics without understanding how statistics and probability factor in.

If we're clueless about correlation vs. causation, anecdotal vs. statistical, how can we make sense of the world?

This dovetails with the thoughts I put down last month on the Tyranny of Intuition. If we can't make good educated judgments on something, then we're left with making our best uneducated judgments instead. Which I think is setting our selves up for an epic fail.