On: What’s New in Python 3.8

[jp_sc]

I would love if they added "?" to the list of valid characters for names, so I could write something like `valid?()` instead of ``is_valid()`.

[bandrami → jp_sc]

just use "_P", a fairly-widely-recognized substitute from the Lisp world.

[maksimum → bandrami]

As a python programmer I would have no idea what `valid_P` is supposed to mean. Valid Pascals?

[bandrami → maksimum]

P is shaped like a question mark, though I think it was retronymed to stand for "Predicate"

[NateEag → bandrami]

I think "predicate" is the original meaning of that postfix.

Emacs Lisp, at least, can use question marks in names without batting an eyelash.

I see no reason that would not have been true for Lisps generally since their birth.

[ptx → bandrami]

The suffix is just "p" in Common Lisp[1], so I think the "predicate" explanation is more likely to be correct than the visual analogy to the question mark.

[1] http://www.lispworks.com/documentation/HyperSpec/Body/f_list...

[cutler → jp_sc]

Or even better, just `valid?` Oh, wait .... that's Ruby.

[alanfranz → jp_sc]

Ruby to the rescue!