[Python-ideas] PEP 572: about the operator precedence of :=

M.-A. Lemburg mal at egenix.com
Thu May 10 05:04:04 EDT 2018


On 10.05.2018 05:52, Guido van Rossum wrote:
>> I would have := bind more tightly than the comma. Consider:
>>
>> a = 1, x := 2, 3
>>
>> IMO the only sane interpretation is "x = 2; a = 1, 2, 3". Effectively,
>> the := operator does not like to play with commas; we've already ruled
>> out "a, b := range(2)" as a means of unpacking, so it makes more sense
>> to have that simply mean "b = range(2); a, b".
>>
> 
> Oh, I hadn't even though of combining the two in one statement. That
> example is truly horrible (on first skim I didn't even notice it used two
> different assignment operators!) and strengthens my confidence that we
> should just disallow an un-parenthesized `:=` operator at the top level,
> where now the top level includes the RHS of a classic assignment.

Yes, please, and ideally not only at the top level, but
everywhere.

To a (former Pascal) programmer, a := 1 doesn't read like an
operator. It's an assignment expression. If embedded expressions
is where Python is heading, it should be made very clear where
the embedded expression starts and where it ends on a line.

Anything else will just result in hard to debug code with
subtle errors...

oops = 1, a := 2 * 3, 4, 5 - 6

By having to write:

ahhh = 1, (a := 2) * 3, 4, 5 - 6

you at least know that "(a := 2)" will evaluate to 2 in the
tuple on the right side.

Not sure whether this was discussed before (I'm not really
following the discussion), but what happens if you write:

check = 0 and (a := 1)

? Will "a" get assigned or not ?


All that said, I sometimes do wonder what people dislike
so much about explicit for-loops which make all of these
things obvious even to a complete Python newbie reading
the code.

IMO, line noise is not something Python should strive for.
Other languages such as APL are much better at that - just
look at the beauty of "(~R∊R∘.×R)/R←1↓ιR" ;-)

-- 
Marc-Andre Lemburg
eGenix.com

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