Re: [PATCH v2] Remove Python2 "file" from the list of keywords

[Konstantin Kharlamov]

On Wed, 2025-01-29 at 19:56 -0600, Stefan Kangas wrote:
> Konstantin Kharlamov <Hi-Angel@yandex.ru> writes:
> 
> > On Wed, 2025-01-29 at 23:26 +0900, kobarity wrote:
> > > Konstantin Kharlamov wrote:
> > > > So, it's been a few days, nobody seems against, so I'm
> > > > attaching a
> > > > patch. Please review 😊
> > > 
> > > I think it should be announced in etc/NEWS.
> > 
> > Thank you, done!
> > From ffda4e954d157b544453b388458f1ec414d17abd Mon Sep 17 00:00:00
> > 2001
> > From: Konstantin Kharlamov <Hi-Angel@yandex.ru>
> > Date: Wed, 29 Jan 2025 08:35:31 +0300
> > Subject: [PATCH v2] Remove Python2 "file" from the list of keywords
> > 
> > `file` was a built-in type in Python2, removed in Python3. 
> > Nowadays,
> > word `file` is a frequent identifier name that people use in short
> > file-related code sections.  Having it highlighted looks odd in a
> > code.  As a prior art, Vim and VS Code don't currently highlight
> > `file` specially.
> > 
> > This was recently discussed on emacs-devel with the conclusion it
> > is
> > okay to remove `file` from the list of keywords.
> > 
> > * etc/NEWS: Announce "file" keyword removal.
> > * lisp/progmodes/python.el (python-font-lock-keywords-level-2):
> > Remove
> > "file" from the list.
> > ---
> >  etc/NEWS                 | 6 ++++++
> >  lisp/progmodes/python.el | 3 +--
> >  2 files changed, 7 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
> > 
> > diff --git a/etc/NEWS b/etc/NEWS
> > index f7e9f283709..ca16079ad64 100644
> > --- a/etc/NEWS
> > +++ b/etc/NEWS
> > @@ -807,6 +807,12 @@ exist.  If "python" points to Python 2 on your
> > system, you now have to
> >  customize these variables to "python3" if you want to use Python 3
> >  instead.
> > 
> > +---
> > +*** Remove "file" from the list of keywords.
> > +In Python 3 "file" has no special meaning, and in modern code the
> > word
> > +is frequently used as a variable name.  To make sure highlight in
> > such
> > +code doesn't look off, we no longer highlight "file".
> > +
> >  ---
> >  *** Support of 'electric-layout-mode' added.
> > 
> > diff --git a/lisp/progmodes/python.el b/lisp/progmodes/python.el
> > index c00de2d6a8d..63798687928 100644
> > --- a/lisp/progmodes/python.el
> > +++ b/lisp/progmodes/python.el
> > @@ -715,9 +715,8 @@ python-font-lock-keywords-level-2
> >             "staticmethod" "str" "sum" "super" "tuple" "type"
> > "vars" "zip"
> >             "__import__"
> >             ;; Python 2:
> > -           "basestring" "cmp" "execfile" "file" "long" "raw_input"
> > "reduce"
> > +           "basestring" "cmp" "execfile" "intern" "long"
> > "raw_input" "reduce"
> >             "reload" "unichr" "unicode" "xrange" "apply" "buffer"
> > "coerce"
> > -           "intern"
> 
> I understand that "file" probably the top most common one, but,
> looking
> at the above list of builtins, many of the remaining ones should be
> attractive names to use as well:
> 
>     apply
>     basestring
>     buffer
>     cmp
>     coerce
>     execfile
>     file
>     intern
>     long
>     raw_input
>     reduce
>     reload
>     unichr
>     unicode
>     xrange

Not that I'm against, but I'd point out that to me basestring, coerce,
execfile, intern, long, raw_input, reload, unichr, unicode, xrange look
like highly unlikely variable names. "long" as I mentioned above would
typically be part of a larger word. "buffer" I also don't recall people
to write ever in full (people are more likely to type "buf").

And `reduce` wasn't really removed from Python3 (it's just not in the
visibility scope by default), so it seems odd to remove given that we
still highlight `all` and `any`.

> If we're anyways making changes here, maybe we should just take the
> plunge and drop all of the Python 2 builtins?  It should be
> relatively
> harmless for Python 2 users, I think, and it's easier to explain what
> we're doing in etc/NEWS.