Interesting talk on Python vs. Ruby and how he would like Python to have just a bit more syntactic flexibility.

[Carl Banks]

On Feb 19, 11:12 pm, Steve Holden <st... at holdenweb.com> wrote:
> Ben Finney wrote:
> > Lawrence D'Oliveiro <l... at geek-central.gen.new_zealand> writes:
>
> >> If Python doesn’t distinguish between procedures and functions, why
> >> should it distinguish between statements and expressions?
>
> > I don't see the connection between those two predicates. Why does the
> > former matter when determining the “should” of the latter?
>
> Because s similar dichotomy exists between the two pairs.
>
> Procedure <= function not returning a value
> Statement <= expression not returning a value

So if your language distinguishes between procedures and functions, it
manifestly has to distinguish between statements and expressions, but
there's no reason that the converse has to be true, expecially if an
expression is a legal statement.


Carl Banks