Thank you very much for correctly remarking that the "definition" I formulated contradicts the examples I gave and is therefore utterly inadecuate:

It is proposed to introduce a Keyword "same", to be used in the right hand side of assignments, as follows:      "xx = same + 5" or "...DELETED..." synonymous with "xx += 5"    "value =  2*same + 5"  synonymous with "value =*2; value +=5"    "switch = 1 - same"  synonymous with "switch *-1; switch +=1"    "lst = same + [5,6]"  synonymous with  "lst += [5,6]"

   "lst = [5,6] + same" synonymous with  "...DELETED..."    "lst[2] = 1/same" synonymous with  "lst[2] **=-1"   and so on.

What I would like is to extend the augmented assignment and make it easy to understand for naive readers. I hope the following literary definition is consistent enough to convey the correct meaning:   "whenever it is possible, modify the target IN PLACE   according to the right hand side expression.   If it is not possible to do such a thing,   substitute the target object with   an object that is build according to the right hand side expression   and subsequently deleted" The following examples should be correct:   "xx = same + 5"  synonymous with  "xx += 5"   "value =  2*same + 5"  synonymous with  "value =*2; value +=5"   "switch = 1 - same"  synonymous with  "switch *-1; switch +=1"   "lst = same + [5,6]"  synonymous with  "lst += [5,6]"   "lst[2] = 1/same" synonymous with  "lst[2] **=-1" The following examples would be extensions:   "lst = [5,6] + same" synonymous with       "lst.reverse(); lst.extend([6,5]); lst.reverse()"   "inmutable = same*(same+1)"  synonymous with       "unused=inmutable+1; inmutable*=unused; del unused" There seems to be no really simple expression for the above extensions, and I take that as an indication that the proposed feature could be quite useful.