---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Daniel Okey-Okoro <danielokeyokoro@gmail.com> Date: Thu, Aug 1, 2019 at 1:24 PM Subject: Re: PEP: add a `no` keyword as an alias for `not` To: Calvin Spealman <cspealma@redhat.com> Good point Calvin, ------------------------------------------------------------ But in many cases, when people write `if not val` they're checking if the val is `None` i.e. `if val is None`, `if val == None` (so in effect it's kind of like they're checking if "something isn't there") I just did a code review. The idea popped in my head after reading code that behaved this way. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Plus, I'm suggesting an alias. In some usecases it would be better to just use `if not val`. i.e. in cases where you are strictly doing True/False assessments not Falsey ( is_empty() ) assessments e.g. None, [], "", 0 ``` Best Intentions, Daniel Okey-Okoro On Thu, Aug 1, 2019, 1:10 PM Calvin Spealman <cspealma@redhat.com> wrote:

I think they actually read like they would mean slightly different things, which would make them existing as aliases confusing.

I read `if not val` as "If val isn't true" but i would read `if no val` as "if val does not exist"

On Thu, Aug 1, 2019 at 4:07 PM Daniel Okey-Okoro < danielokeyokoro@gmail.com> wrote:

...

I think that adding a `no` keyword as an alias for `not` would make for more readable, simple, pythonic code.

Take the below:

``` if not val: do_thing_because_value_is_falsy() ```

could be (is actually understood as):

``` if no val: do_thing_because_value_is_falsy() ```

I think this PEP is a work-around for an underlying subtle issue with how the `not` operator is used.

It has two use-cases:

1. as a NOT gate for producing opposite boolean values

``` opposite = not regular ```

2. as a sort of ".is_falsy()" checker; when used with an if statement.

like the first example.

This PEP would make the difference between the two usecases explicit.

Thoughts?

Best Intentions, Daniel Okey-Okoro. -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list

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-- Best Intentions, Daniel Okey-Okoro.