Defending the ternary operator

[Laura Creighton]

> Laura Creighton <lac at strakt.com> writes:
> > > On Sat, 2003-02-08 at 01:01, Laura Creighton wrote:
> > > > Regardless of the reasons some people _want_  conditionals, people
> > > > are going to _use_ them because they save keystrokes. The number of
> > > > people who will do anything to save keystrokes is legion. 
> > > 
> > > Why do you lack such faith in programmers?  
> > 
> > Because I am one.  Because I know so many of them.  Because 'lazy
> > work' and 'hurried work' has been the bane of all creators since we
> > first started creating anything. 
> 
> Why do you think saving keystrokes impairs readability?  Usually, for
> me at least, a shorter program is easier to read, not harder.
> -- 
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list

I don't think that the relationship is that simple.  Some things which
are elegant are short.  Some things which are obscure are also short.
Persuing shortness alone is not the answer, or we would all be programming
in APL.

Laura