7 Apr
2002
7 Apr
'02
5:14 p.m.
On Sun, Apr 07, 2002 at 05:04:19PM +0000, Josh McKenzie wrote:
It may seem a trivial point to bring up, but while I can explain the difference between equality and assignment, I cannot explain the logic of using the '=' and '==' notation.
I assume that Python inherited this behavior from C/C++ or some other languages, as you indicated. The only language I can think of where there was an independent justification for the syntax was BASIC, where one could write: 10 LET X = 20 which takes its cue from mathematical prose. The LET was optional, so this was universally shortened to 10 X = 20 and the confusion began. That's my theory. Dustin -- Dustin Mitchell dustin@ywlcs.org http://people.cs.uchicago.edu/~dustin/