On 19/07/18 09:33, Antoine Pitrou wrote:
> There is a use case I sympathize with: the argument-is-None case.  For
> that I would suggest a simpler form:  "A else B" which would evaluate
> to A if A is not None, otherwise to B (parentheses may be mandatory).
>
> So e.g. one of the examples would read:
>
>       def insort_right(a, x, lo=0, hi=None):
>           # ...
>           hi = hi else len(a)
>           # ...

Much as I would like a keyword, "else" is the wrong one.  It implies we
are dealing with truthiness, which we aren't, and lays a subtle semantic
trap as a consequence.

If anyone can think of a good word for "if it isn't None, otherwise",
I'd be all for it :-)