- 2.1 Program Output, the print Statement, and Hello World!
- 2.2 Program Input and the raw_input()Built-in Function
- 2.3 Comments
- 2.4 Operators
- 2.5 Variables and Assignment
- 2.6 Numbers
- 2.7 Strings
- 2.8 Lists and Tuples
- 2.9 Dictionaries
- 2.10 Code Blocks Use Indentation
- 2.11 if Statement
- 2.12 while Loop
- 2.13 for Loop and the range() Built-in Function
- 2.14 List Comprehensions
- 2.15 Files and the open() and file() Built-in Functions
- 2.16 Errors and Exceptions
- 2.17 Functions
- 2.18 Classes
- 2.19 Modules
- 2.20 Useful Functions
- 2.21 Exercises
2.10 Code Blocks Use Indentation
Code blocks are identified by indentation rather than using symbols like curly braces. Without extra symbols, programs are easier to read. Also, indentation clearly identifies which block of code a statement belongs to. Of course, code blocks can consist of single statements, too.
When one is new to Python, indentation may comes as a surprise. Humans generally prefer to avoid change, so perhaps after many years of coding with brace delimitation, the first impression of using pure indentation may not be completely positive. However, recall that two of Python’s features are that it is simplistic in nature and easy to read. If you have a strong dislike of indentation as a delimitation ***, we invite you to revisit this notion half a year from now. More than likely, you will have discovered that life without braces is not as bad as you had originally thought.