I disagree: your statement does not in fact reflect conventions on common readability. If anything, a programmer should be able to read s = s + (...) just as well as s += (...). They both seem obvious to me but as a Python programmer, I prefer the latter.
Read it again, says "could be argued," not that I am in unrelenting agreement with it. I find both obvious as well.
However, one of python's main design goals is readability. That's why it does not have the i++ operator in preference to i = i + 1, for example. No switch keyword either. +=, etc managed to squeeze in though.
More specifically, one of the forms has a thousand years+ of algebra notation behind it, the other does not. I made no statement over whether pro programmers would find it confusing, but on the readability count, analogues to mathematics win.
To be clear, it was a intended helpful comment with the point that the argument /exists/, an attempt to explain why one would do such a thing. Whether you or I support it or not is irrelevant.
Unless you are arguing that the idea should not even be discussed, downvotes are malicious. The mere mention of an idea should not be attacked.
"Yep. It could be argued that the first is more readable though" -> I agree with you that this vote should not have been down-voted. I feel like the down-vote was more of a "I think what you said is wrong" rather then a "this comment was useless or misplaced".
However, I feel like the following replies coming from you were unnecessary aggressive.
In your first comment, after you saw that people didn't understand the meaning, I think it would have been better to edit it and explain - without being aggressive - what you intended by "more readable".
Logically, yes. However I found multiple quick downvotes over a very benign statement rude and reacted in kind.
People would like to think they don't matter, but it is the same as walking into a room and punching someone in the arm. If I had made some horrible statement it might make sense.
It was a simple sentence. While I'd like for people to understand as well as possible, I'm not going to write defensive paragraphs every comment to prevent others from projecting their bias(es) onto my words and/or jumping first to negative conclusions.
It's no way to live and would be impossible anyway, how to know in which direction todays random replier will hijack my comment?
