Charming Python #4 | syntax, Syntax !, syn.tax ?

I have to say I seem to run into a little ‘something’ I hadn’t forseen when I started this journey.

As I follow the exercises on codecademy, I often wonder why in bananas name the code I wrote to solve the problem at hand doesn't work.

I mean admittedly, half of the time it's just plain wrong, I am still learning after all and it IS a new language.

But the other half of the time it doesn't work, I am near 100% sure it should. I trace every character, but they're all there.

What it then turns out to be is that Python, as opposed to maxscript, is case-sensitive. Meaning that the exercise expects for instance something to be called MonkeySee, but I made it return monkeysee ...

Syntax, therefor is a very important thing to learn when learning a programming language.

Another example is that where max doesn't really care about formatting, Python is very particular in it's use of indentation (tabs, spaces) for 'subcode' of let's say a function.

for instance:

def MonkeySee (action):
    print(action)
monkeySee("monkeyDo")

would work and spit out the string monkeyDo to the console, but !

def MonkeySee (action):
print(action)
monkeySee("monkeyDo")

will return an error about indentation (luckily, Pythons' error reporting is quite good at this level)

IndentationError: expected an indented block
Command exited with non-zero status 1

Another example is that I've learned with maxscript that something requires a specific action.

if o == true do (
    code
)

above is the case for a single action, but if i want to do an if, then, else then I would need to structure it differently. Notice that the do now needs to be a then

if o == true then (
    code
) else (
    code
)

while Python on this end is rather more forgiving in this regard.

if o == True:
    code

if o == True:
    code
else:
    other code

see how this is slightly more forgiving in that I could just add an else afterwards (or even an elif for an if, else if, else structure) Then again, do take notice of the uppercase T for True ... again, case-sensitive Python being a *

Well, I suppose in the end it's mostly a matter or repetition to ingrain the syntax into my grey and greying mass alongside my embedded maxscript syntax memory.

Let's hope there's room for the both of them !

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