[Tutor] am I missing another simpler structure?

[Loptr Chaote]

On Wed, 15 Dec 2004 19:58:56 -0500, Brian van den Broek
<bvande at po-box.mcgill.ca> wrote:
> As I mentioned, I feel as though I have a mental block getting in the
> way of coming up with code in the smoother fashion of the second snippet
> above. As I have been making a lot of use of a construct (pattern?)
> similar to my code above, wherein I try something, and return True if it
> works, False if it doesn't, I've begun to wonder if I am overlooking a
> improvement similar to that in DogWalker's suggestion. As an example of
> the sort of thing I have been doing:

This reply might seem embarassingly short compared to the other
answers you got. But I would like to point out two things that could
be worth thinking about and that could help you "tune in" to a more
direct line of thinking.

1) Every operation has a return value [unless purposefully left out]
This includes, but is not limited to; mathematical operations (of
course), variable assignment, compare blocks, etc..
2) If you collect the value first, and then use the collect-variable
for checking things, chances are you might be able to exclude the
collect-variable completely. This also applies to "state
flag"-variables (like in_range in your own solution suggestion).

Might not be much worth, but it's my two cents. ;)

-L.C