Comparison with False - something I don't understand

[Grant Edwards]

On 2010-12-02, Steve Holden <steve at holdenweb.com> wrote:
> On 12/2/2010 9:13 AM, Harishankar wrote:
>> 
>> if not result:
>>     # error condition
>> 
>> Now above I first realized that the function can also return an empty 
>> list under some conditions and so changed it to
>> 
>> if result == False:
>>     # error condition
>> 
>> 
>> But now I realize that it's better to use "is"
>> 
>> if result is False:
>>     # error condition
>> 
>> That is how my problem arose.
>
> Did you think about using exceptions to handle exceptional conditions?
> If you are new to Python it may not be the obvious soltuion, but it can
> greatly simplify program logic.

If you're not used to using exceptions it may at first seem like they
take extra effort to use.  But usually, in the end, they end up being
less work (and more importantly easier to read and less bugs).

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