semi colonic

Rob Cliffe rob.cliffe at btinternet.com
Wed Feb 22 21:10:52 EST 2023


On 23/02/2023 00:58, avi.e.gross at gmail.com wrote:
> So can anyone point to places in Python where a semicolon is part of a best
> or even good way to do anything?
>
>
Yes.  Take this bit of toy code which I just dreamed up.  (Of course it 
is toy code; don't bother telling me how it could be written better.)  
If it looks a bit ragged, pretend it is in a fixed font.

if dow==0: day="Mon"; calcPay()
if dow==1: day="Tue"; calcPay()
if dow==2: day="Wed"; calcPay()
if dow==3: day="Thu"; calcPay()
if dow==4: day="Fri"; calcpay()
if dow==5: day="Sat"; calcPay(rate=1.5)
if dow==6: day="Sun"; calcPay(rate=2)

The point is: when you have several short bits of code with an identical 
or similar pattern, *vertically aligning* the corresponding parts can 
IMO make it much easier to read the code and easier to spot errors.
Compare this:

if dow==0:
     day="Mon"
     calcPay()
if dow==1:
     day="Tue"
     calcPay()
if dow==2:
     day="Wed"
     calcPay()
if dow==3:
     day="Thu"
     calcPay()
if dow==4:
     day="Fri"
     calcpay()
if dow==5:
     day="Sat"
     calcPay(rate=1.5)
if dow==6:
     day="Sun"
     calcPay(rate=2)

Not so easy to spot the mistake now, is it?
Not to mention the saving of vertical space.

Best wishes
Rob Cliffe
PS If you really care, I can send you a more complicated example of real 
code from one of my programs which is HUGELY more readable when laid out 
in this way.



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