[pyre]

> To be fair, there are quite a few common cases where Python's syntax is rather inelegant

Now we're stepping out of the realm of "semantic white space" though. The people I've known to get (literally) red in the face over Python haven't actually used the language and can't do much more than regurgitate stuff like, "but white space!"

> The need to break out if-then statements into multiple lines, the need for explicit 'return' statements which also have to go on their own line.

Unless I'm missing something those are poor examples of the limits of semantic white space:

  % python
  >>> def function():
  ...   if True: return False
  ...
  >>> function()
  False
  >>> def function():
  ...   if False: return True
  ...   else: return False
  ...
  >>> function()
  False

Sure you can't do stuff like:

  >>> def function():
  ...   True
  ...
  >>> function()
  >>>

(That returned `None`)

But I don't see how requiring a return statement, or disallowing code like:

  if var1 = function():
    do_something()

is a crime against humanity.

[Goladus]

Actually after a quick search I realized my problem was ignorance. I did not know about PEP 308 (conditional expressions) which is a workaround for the issue I described.

And yes technically it's a statement/expression issue not a whitespace issue, though they're indirectly related.