What can you do in LISP that you can't do in Python

[Alex Martelli]

<James_Althoff at i2.com> wrote in message
news:mailman.990565593.9251.python-list at python.org...
    ...
> def doValidation():
>     queryForm.validate()
>     . . .
>
> def execQuery():
>     queryForm.execQuery()
>     . . .
>
> def doQuery():
>     window.showStatusDuring(
>         msg="Validating Query Form ...",
>         function=doValidation())

I suspect you don't want the parentheses after doValidation:
you're passing the function, not calling it.  A closer analogy
to your hypothetical-unnamed-block later example would of
course be achieved by moving the def statements for doValidation
and execQuery INSIDE doQuery, each just before its use.

>     window.showStatusDuring(
>         msg="Getting Results ...",
>         function=execQuery())
>
> window.showBusyCursorDuring(function=doQuery)

The use of a named-actual-argument 'function' may be a
good idea (I like it...), but it's a further divergence
from your following hypothetical example, where the
anonymous codeblock is being passed with an unspecified
argument-name.

> as contrasted with (in theory):
>
> window.showBusyCursorDuring():
>     window.showStatusDuring(msg="Validating Query Form ..."):
>         queryForm.validate()
>         . . .
>     window.showStatusDuring(msg="Getting Results ..."):
>         queryForm.execQuery()
>         . . .

So, in all, I might recode (while admitting there ARE
still differences!) as:

def doQuery():
    def doValidation():
        queryForm.validate()
        ...
    window.showStatusDuring("Validating Query Form", doValidation)
    def execQuery():
        queryForm.execQuery()
        ...
    window.showStatusDuring("Getting Results", execQuery)

window.showBusyCursorDuring(doQuery)

The def-before-you-pass-it need may be best met by defining
JUST-before-you-pass-it.


Alex