In the endless Lisp/macro threads, Alex Martelli mentioned something a
bit interesting about screen-reading applications. Specifically, he
expressed reservations about whether Python would be a good language for
visually impaired or blind programmers.
The concern, I think, is that pronouncing
'space-space-space-space-space-space-space-space' isn't all that easy to
follow if spoken with every line. Even a reduced form like
"eight-spaces' isn't perfect either. Actually, a symmetric concern is
with voice recognition applications--perhaps for people with motor
disabilities.
My feeling is that a good vocal Python programming editor would need to
know a bit about the structure of the language. Maybe to a greater
degree than would one with explicit delimiters (although I have trouble
imagining blind programmers being all that happy with hearing
'close-paren-close-paren-close-paren-close-paren-close-paren-close-paren'
either). Perhaps this same hypothetical editor would speak code and
recognize spoken code using the same format.
So quick test, how do you say:
def range_sum(N):
if N < 0:
return None
elif N == 1:
return 1
else:
tot = 0
for n in range(1,N+1):
tot += n
return tot
It's a stupid function, of course; I just wanted something with a couple
of levels of indents for an example. There's no need to tell me it's
pronouned 'sum-of-range-of-N-plus-one'.
Yours, David...
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