[Python-Dev] Switch statement

[Fredrik Lundh]

Phillip J. Eby wrote:

>> I don't see this as much of a problem, really: we can simply restrict
>> the optimization to well-known data types ("homogenous" switches using
>> integers or strings should cover 99.9% of all practical cases), and then
>> add an opcode that checks uses a separate dispatch object to check if
>> fast dispatch is possible, and place that before an ordinary if/elif
>> sequence.
> 
> What about switches on types?  Things like XML-RPC and JSON want to be able 
> to have a fast switch on an object's type and fall back to slower tests 
> only for non-common cases.

good point (and nice example).

>     for t in obtype.__mro__:
>          switch t:
>          case int: ...; break
>          case str: ...; break
>          else:
>              continue
>      else:
>          # not a recognized type

but I wonder how confusing the "break inside switch terminates the outer 
loop" pattern would be to a C programmer...

</F>