On 10 May 2018 at 13:33, Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> wrote:
(I vaguely recall this has been brought up before, but I'm too lazy to find the subtread. So it goes.)

PEP 572 currently seems to specify that when used in expressions, the precedence of `:=` is lower (i.e. it binds more tightly) than all operators except for the comma. I derive this from the single example `stuff = [[y := f(x), x/y] for x in range(5)]`.

From this it would follow that `f(a := 1, a)` is equivalent to `a = 1; f(1, 1)`, and also that `(a := 1, a)` is equivalent to `a = 1; (1, 1)`. (Although M.A.L. objected to this.)

But what should `a := 1, 1` at the top level (as a statement) do? On the one hand, analogy with the above suggest that it is equivalent to `a = 1; (1, 1)`. But on the other hand, it would be really strange if the following two lines had different meanings:

    a = 1, 1   # a = (1, 1)
    a := 1, 1  # a = 1; (1, 1)

I now think that the best way out is to rule `:=` in the top level expression of an expression statement completely (it would still be okay inside parentheses, where it would bind tighter than comma).

FWIW, this is one of the ambiguities that the generalised postfix expression form of the given clause would reduce fairly significantly by separating the result expression from the bound expression:

    a = 1, 1
    a given a = 1, 1 # As above, but also returns a
    a = 1, x, 3 given x = 2
 
They also compose fairly nicely as an essentially right associative operator:

    a given a = 1, x, 3 given x = 2
    a given a = (1, x, 3 given x = 2) # Same as previous
    (a given a = 1), x, 3 given x = 2 # Forcing left-associativity

While you do have to repeat the bound name at least once, you gain a much clearer order of execution (while it's an order of execution that's right-to-left rather than left-to-right, "rightmost expression first" is the normal way assignments get evaluated anyway).

Cheers,
Nick.

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Nick Coghlan   |   ncoghlan@gmail.com   |   Brisbane, Australia