On Thu, Mar 30, 2017 at 12:47 PM, Abe Dillon <abedillon@gmail.com> wrote:
I feel like that borders on a bit too wordy...
I think the use of words instead of symbols is one of the things that makes Python so readable. The ternary operator is done with words:
value = option1 if condition else option2
reads almost like English, while:
value = condition ? option1: option2;
Is just weird.
I can read Verbal Expressions very quickly and understand exactly what's going on. If I have a decent IDE, I can write them almost as easily. I see no problem with wordiness if it means I don't have to stare at the code and scratch my head longer, or worse, open a reference to help me translate it (which is invariably the case when I look at regular expressions).
However, a huge advantage of REs is that they are common to many languages. You can take a regex from grep to Perl to your editor to Python. They're not absolutely identical, of course, but the basics are all the same. Creating a new search language means everyone has to learn anew. ChrisA