[Python-Dev] C.E.R. Thoughts

[Nick Coghlan]

jamesr wrote:
> Congragulations heartily given. I missed the ternary op in c... Way to 
> go! clean and easy and now i can do:
> 
> if ((sys.argv[1] =='debug') if len(sys.argv) > 1 else False):
> 	pass
> 
> and check variables IF AND ONLY if they exist, in a single line!
> 
> but y'all knew that..

Yep, it was a conscious decision to add a construct with the *potential* to be 
abused for use in places where the existing "and" and "or" expressions *are* 
being abused and resulting in buggy code.

The code in your example is lousy because it's unreadable (and there are far 
more readable alternatives like a simple short-circuiting usage of "and"), but 
at least it's semantically correct (whereas the same can't be said for the 
current abuse of "and" and "or").

If code using a conditional expression is unclear, blame the programmer for 
choosing to write the code, don't blame the existence of the conditional 
expression :)

We're-all-adults-here-ly yours,
Nick.

-- 
Nick Coghlan   |   ncoghlan at gmail.com   |   Brisbane, Australia
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