"is not" operator?

[Jack Diederich]

On Thu, Jul 8, 2010 at 10:02 PM, MRAB <python at mrabarnett.plus.com> wrote:
> sturlamolden wrote:
>> It seems "y is not x" fits well with spoken English, but it is also a
>> bit surprising that "y is not x" does not mean "y is (not x)" but "not
>> (y is x)". Why does Python reorder is and not operators, and what are
>> the formal rules for this behavior?
>>
> In English the negative comes after the verb (or the auxiliary, if there
> is one), so:

The right way to think about python syntax is not to consider what is
obvious to an LL(1) compiler, or what makes sense in English, but
rather "what was the obvious way to write an LL(1) syntax if you are a
Dutchman who speaks English?"

Hope-that-clears-things-up-ly,

-Jack