Why doesn't JUMP_IF_FALSE do POP_TOP ?

[Paul Rubin]

Tim Peters <tim.one at comcast.net> writes:
> > It seems like usually POP_TOP is the next byte code on either branch.
> > Or is there a difficult case where the value is needed on the stack?
> > It seems like the 99% case is getting the overhead (and also making the
> > polling interval counter count unnecessary codes).
> 
> I've been asking that for years <wink>.  The only reak answer is "it seemed
> like a good idea at the time".  Chained comparisons exploit it, but offhand
> I don't recall anything else.

Seems simple enough to add a new code that combines the two?  That
would avoid breaking old compiled code.