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

[Ethan Furman]

On 03/05/2014 07:42 AM, Paul Moore wrote:
> On 5 March 2014 15:08, Yann Kaiser <kaiser.yann at gmail.com> wrote:
>>   Let me show you an actual zero:
>>
>>      if event.num_attendants:
>>          prepare_cake()
>>      else:
>>          cancel_event()
>>
>> When no one is coming to your party, is is clearly a different
>> condition than if any number of people are coming to your event.  When
>> you read "if num_attendants", you can clearly tell this is going to do
>> something depending on if people are coming or not.
>
> I'm sorry, are you really trying to say that the above code is better than
>
>      if event.num_attendants != 0:
>          prepare_cake()
>      else:
>          cancel_event()
>
> ?

Yes.  This is Python.  blah blah blah != 0 is unnecessary boiler-plate [1].

--
~Ethan~


[1] In most cases.  I have used `== 0` or `!= 0` when it makes the code clearer, but that's pretty rare.

--
~Ethan~