[Python-Dev] Switch statement

[Georg Brandl]

Guido van Rossum wrote:

>> I've also been wondering whether the 'case' keyword is really necessary?
>>   Would any ambiguities or other parsing problems arise if you wrote:
>>
>>      switch x:
>>          1: foo(x)
>>         2: bar(x)
>>
>> It is debatable whether this is more or less readable, but it seemed
>> like an interesting question for the language lawyers.
> 
> That's no problem for the parser, as long as the expressions are
> indented. ABC did this.
> 
> But I think I like an explicit case keyword better; it gives a better
> error message if the indentation is forgotten.

It also overthrows the notion that suites are started by statements, not
by expressions.

Georg