Why not python implicit line continuation on period?

Question

Is there any reason Python does not allow implicit line continuations after (or before) periods? That is

data.where(lambda d: e.name == 'Obama').
    count()


data.where(lambda d: e.name == 'Obama')
    .count()

Does this conflict with some feature of Python? With the rise of method chaining APIs this seems like a nice feature.

Answer 1

Both of those situations can lead to valid, complete constructs, so continuing on them would complicate the parser.

print 3.
  1415926

print 'Hello, world'
  .lower()

Answer 2

Python allow line continuations within parentheticals (), so you might try:

(data.where(lambda d: e.name == 'Obama').
    count())

I know that's not answering your question ("why?"), but maybe it's helpful.