<var> is None vs. <var> == None

[J. Cliff Dyer]

On Fri, 2009-01-23 at 19:31 -0500, Benjamin Kaplan wrote:
> 
> 
> On Fri, Jan 23, 2009 at 7:28 PM, Gary Herron
> <gherron at islandtraining.com> wrote:
>         Steven D'Aprano wrote:
>         > On Fri, 23 Jan 2009 14:58:34 -0500, Gerald Britton wrote:
>         >
>         >
>         >> Hi -- Some time ago I ran across a comment recommending
>         using <var> is
>         >> None instead of <var> == None (also <var> is not None,
>         etc.)
>         >>
>         >
>         > That entirely depends on whether you wish to test for
>         something which
>         > *is* None or something with *equals* None. Those two things
>         have
>         > different meanings.
>         >
>         
>         
>         Actually, for None, those two things *are* the same.   If
>         something
>         *equals* None, it also *is* None.  This is a consequence of
>         the fact
>         that there is only ever one value of None anywhere in the
>         system.
> 
> Not if someone decided to be a PITA.
>  
> >>> class A(object) :
> ...    def __eq__(self, other) :
> ...       return other is None 
> ... 
> >>> a = A()
> >>> a == None
> True
> >>> a is None
> False
> 
> 

or slightly less PITAish:

class EqualThing(object):
    def __eq__(self, other):
        return True

Could be a useful sentinel value in some cases.


>         
>         
>         > I wonder, do newbies actually get the impression from
>         somewhere that "is"
>         > is a synonym for "=="?
>         >
>         
>         
>         Yes.  Such questions pop up regularly, and are usually dealt
>         with quickly.
>         
>         >
>         >
>         >
>         >> My own
>         >> testing indicates that the former beats the latter by about
>         30% on
>         >> average.  Not a log for a single instruction but it can add
>         up in large
>         >> projects.
>         >>
>         >
>         > If you have a "large" project where the time taken to do
>         comparisons to
>         > None is a significant portion of the total time, I'd be very
>         surprised.
>         >
>         > var is None is a micro-optimization, but that's not why we
>         do it. We do
>         > it because usually the correct test is whether var *is* None
>         and not
>         > merely equal to None. Any random object might happen to
>         equal None
>         > (admittedly most objects don't), but only None is None.
>         >
>         >
>         You don't have that quite right.  The only way something can
>         *equal*
>         None is if it *is* None.
>         None is not a value an object can have, but rather it is a
>         (singleton)
>         object that can be referenced.  Setting something *equal* to
>         None is
>         accomplished by making it refer to the single None object, at
>         which
>         point it *is* None.
>         
>         Gary Herron
>         
>         >
>         >
>         
>         --
>         http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
> 
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