(a==b) ? 'Yes' : 'No'

[Robert Kern]

On 2010-03-30 12:11 PM, Steven D'Aprano wrote:
> On Tue, 30 Mar 2010 10:08:31 -0700, John Nagle wrote:
>
>>> Yes, Python has ternary operator-like syntax: return ('Yes' if a==b
>>> else 'No')
>>>
>>> Note that this requires a recent version of Python.
>>
>>       Who let the dogs in?  That's awful syntax.
>
> I used to think so to, but now I like it. It matches common English
> syntax like:
>
> "I'm going to the movies tonight, if I leave the office early, otherwise
> I'll stay home and nitpick on Usenet."

I would suggest that this is much more common and less awkward English usage: 
"If I leave the office early, I'm going to the movies tonight; otherwise, I'll 
stay home and nitpick on Usenet."

I don't have a problem with the current syntax, and while its English analogue 
is grammatical, I don't think you can rightly call it idiomatic.

-- 
Robert Kern

"I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma
  that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had
  an underlying truth."
   -- Umberto Eco