Python tricks
RajNewbie
raj.indian.08 at gmail.com
Mon Jan 12 09:01:46 EST 2009
On Jan 12, 6:51 pm, Tim Chase <python.l... at tim.thechases.com> wrote:
> > My code has a lot of while loops of the following format:
> > while True:
> > ...
> > if <condition>: break
>
> > The danger with such a code is that it might go to an infinite loop
> > - if the <condition> never occurs.
> > Is there a way - a python trick - to have a check such that if the
> > loop goes for more than x number of steps, it will cause an exception?
>
> > I do understand that we can use the code like -
> > i = 0
> > while True:
> > i++
> > if i > 200: raise infinite_Loop_Exception
> > ...
> > if <condition>: break
>
> > But I am not very happy with this code for 3 reasons
> > 1. Verbosity (i=0 and i++) which doesnt add to the logic
> > 2. The loop now has dual focus. - incrementing i, etc.
> > 3. <most important> A person looks into the code and thinks 'i'
> > has special significance. His/her mind will be focused on not the
> > actual reason for the loop.
>
> My first thought would be to simply not use "while True":
>
> INFINITE_LOOP_COUNT = 200
> for _ in xrange(INFINITE_LOOP_COUNT):
> do_something()
> if <condition>: break
> else:
> raise InfiniteLoopException
>
> > The solution that I had in mind is:
> > while True:
> > ...
> > if <condition>: break
> > if inifinte_loop(): raise infiinte_loop_exception
>
> > Wherein infinite_loop is a generator, which returns true if i > 200
> > def infinite_loop():
> > i = 0
> > while i < 200:
> > i++
> > yield False
> > yield True
>
> > Could somebody let me know whether this is a good option?
>
> To do this, you'd need to do the same sort of thing as you do
> with your i/i++ variable:
>
> i = infinite_loop()
> while True:
> ...
> if <condition>: break
> if i.next(): raise InfiniteLoopException
>
> which doesn't gain much, and makes it a whole lot more confusing.
>
> > Could someone chip in with other suggestions?
>
> As an aside: the phrase is "chime in"[1] (to volunteer
> suggestions) "Chip in"[2] usually involves contributing money to
> a common fund ("care to chip in $10 for Sally's wedding gift from
> the office?" where the pool of money would then be used to buy
> one large/expensive gift for Sally)
>
> -tkc
>
> [1]http://www.thefreedictionary.com/chime+in
>
> [2]http://www.english-test.net/forum/ftopic1768.html
Thank you very much Tim.
I agree on all counts - esp the fact that my suggestion is very
confusing + (chime in part too :) ).
But, I still feel it would be much more aesthetically pleasing if I
can call a single procedure like
if infinite_loop() -> to do the same.
Is it somehow possible? - say by using static variables, iterators --
anything?
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