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No compiler can read your mind. But in a language with brackets, the compiler can at least determine scope even when things are poorly-indented. In Python it can't in a lot of cases.

It's like static type checking: The class of errors the compiler can catch is larger when it's present. Likewise, with visible scoping characters, the class of errors the compiler can catch is larger than when they are invisible.

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> But in a language with brackets, the compiler can at least determine scope even when things are poorly-indented.

Yes, but can it determine scope if things are poorly-bracketed? Because that's the fair comparison.

Poor bracketing almost always causes syntax or compiler errors. As long as you have a language that's block-scoped (which is true of modern JavaScript and most other popular languages), you'll get an error if you make a bracketing mistake.

That's not true of indent mistakes. Semantic whitespace is lossy -- there's data contained in those brackets that some people think is low-value that it's expendable for the sake of saving keystrokes, but it does have value in practice.

With Python, generally speaking, if you are more than a few indentations deep you are doing something wrong.

Flat is better than nested

That's a good heuristic for a programmer but it's no help to a compiler.

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