[Python-ideas] Please reconsider the Boolean evaluation of midnight

[Rob Cliffe]

On 05/03/2014 16:24, Paul Moore wrote:
>> I can see both sides, but I like how Python can use empty lists and zeros as
>> false values, and I often (but not always) write code that takes advantage
>> of it.
> Agreed, but that doesn't mean that code taking advantage of this is
> never obfuscated or hard to maintain.
>
> Paul.
I'm with Shai and Ryan on this one.  There's no such thing as a perfect 
language, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't strive towards it.
>
> PS One final point, and I'll say this one last time and then shut up.
> I have no objection to making Python better. Nor do I insist that
> backward compatibility should never be broken. Nor do I wish Python
> were Java. Nor do I discount the issue of hard to find bugs. But
> equally, I don't think Python is perfect, nor do I think that this
> behaviour is ideal. I also don't think that the core developers have
> infinite time, nor do I think that every wart in Python needs to be
> fixed.
Good.  In other words, each wart should be considered on its merits, and 
some may be worth fixing.
Changes have been made to Python where the backward compatibility issue 
is far greater.
In this case any code that would be broken by the change is already 
flawed, if not broken.
And I find it hard to imagine that the development effort in making this 
change is anything other than minimal,
_compared with other comparable changes_ (I'm not trying to minimise the 
undoubted effort required to make _any_ change no matter how small).

Rob Cliffe
>   And I trust the core developers to make the right judgements
> most of the time. All anyone should infer from this discussion is that
> I don't think that reopening the bug report referred to by the OP is
> productive. (You may also assume from the fact that I will drop out of
> this discussion now, that I no longer think that this thread is
> particularly productive :-()
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