Re: [Configobj-develop] Problem with list values

[Arve K. <arv...@gm...>]

On 5/15/07, Nicola Larosa <ni...@te...> wrote:
>
> Michael Foord wrote:
> >> I would like this behaviour, otherwise the validation should raise an
> >> error instead of silently returning a string when a list was specified
> >> in the validation schema.
>
> > Thanks Arve - I'll look at this. Anyone else have an opinion on the
> > 'raise an error or coerce to list' question ?
>
> I don't need to remind you the timeless lesson of the ages before us: ;-)
>
> "Explicit is better than implicit.
> ...
> Errors should never pass silently.
> Unless explicitly silenced.
> In the face of ambiguity, refuse the temptation to guess."
>
> There is an ambiguity in *meaning* here, so definitely raise an error.


I don't see any big _practical_ benefit of this level of strictness,
especially since this affects users (non-programmers) directly. I find it
more user friendly to accept strings for single-value lists, since the only
difference is a comma at the end anyhow. I'd say this behaviour amounts to
the least surprise, although others may disagree.

Arve