[Python-ideas] Why operators are useful

MRAB python at mrabarnett.plus.com
Fri Mar 15 18:53:31 EDT 2019


On 2019-03-15 19:05, Jonathan Fine wrote:> Guido wrote:
 >
 >> There's been a lot of discussion about an operator to merge two 
dicts. I participated in the beginning but quickly felt overwhelmed by 
the endless repetition, so I muted most of the threads.
 >
 >> But I have been thinking about the reason (some) people like 
operators, and a discussion I had with my mentor Lambert Meertens over 
30 years ago came to mind.
 >
 >> For mathematicians, operators are essential to how they think.
 >
 > I agree about the endless repetition. I hope Steven D'A is making good
 > progress with the revised PEP. I think that could help us focus
 > discussion.
 >
 > A few days ago, I drafted but did not send a post on binary operators.
 > Prompted by Guido's helpful post, I'm appending it below. My approach
 > and opinions are not the same as Guido's, but have much in common.
 > Perhaps later, I'll clarify where I agree with Guido, and where my
 > opinions differ.
 >
 > Certainly, I think we have in common an emphasis on usability and in
 > particular readability of code.
 >
 > ====================================================
 > SUBJECT: Naming things: would having more binary operators help?
 >
 > SUMMARY
 > I'm refocusing our earlier discussion on binary operators. I suggest
 > we discuss the question:
 > Providing more binary operators. When would this make naming things
 > this easier? And when harder?
 >
 > THE PROBLEM
 > Naming things is hard.
 >
 > For example https://hilton.org.uk/blog/why-naming-things-is-hard
 > "Naming is communication. Bad names prevent code from clearly
 > communicating its intent, which is why code with obfuscated names is
 > spectacularly hard to understand. The compiler might not care, but the
 > humans benefit from naming that communicates effectively."
 >
 > AN EXAMPLE
 > One person wrote:
 > using + to merge dicts is simple, non-disruptive, and unlikely to
 > really confuse anyone - so why not?
 >
 > Another person proposed:
 > d1 << d2 merges d2 into a copy of d1 and returns it, with keys from d2
 > overriding keys from d2.
 >
 > A third person wrote:
 > "|" (especially "|=") *is* suitable for "update"
 > [So] reserve "+" for some alternative future commutative extension
 >
[snip]
There was also the suggestion of having both << and >>.

Actually, now that dicts are ordered, that would provide a use-case, 
because you would then be able to choose which values were overwritten 
whilst maintaining the order of the dict on the LHS.


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