A C-like if statement

[bonono at gmail.com]

Steven D'Aprano wrote:
> On Thu, 23 Feb 2006 12:04:38 -0700, Bob Greschke wrote:
>
> >> try:
> >>    i = a.find("3")
> >>    print "It's here: ", i
> >> except NotFound:
> >>    print "No 3's here"
> >
> > Nuts.  I guess you're right.  It wouldn't be proper.  Things are added or
> > proposed every day for Python that I can't even pronounce, but a simple 'if
> > (I = a.find("3")) != -1' isn't allowed.  Huh.  It might be time to go back
> > to BASIC. :)
>
> There are *reasons* why Python discourages functions with side-effects.
> Side-effects make your code hard to test and harder to debug.
>

>>> "test".index("a")
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<pyshell#0>", line 1, in -toplevel-
    "test".index("a")
ValueError: substring not found
>>> "test".find("a")
-1