[Tutor] List comp question

[Ricardo Aráoz]

Eric Brunson wrote:
> Ricardo Aráoz wrote:
>> Kent Johnson wrote:
>>   
>>> I am building a list like this:
>>>
>>>      tree = []
>>>      for top in tops:
>>>          l2 = level2(top)
>>>          if l2:
>>>              tree.append((top, l2))
>>>
>>> I would really like to turn this into a list comprehension:
>>>
>>> tree = [ (top, level2(top)) for top in tops if level2(top) ]
>>>
>>> but the call to level2() is expensive enough that I don't want to repeat 
>>> it. Is there any way to do this or am I stuck with the (IMO ugly) loop form?
>>>
>>>     
>> Just playing around here, but would this work and be better????
>>
>> tree = [ pair for pair in [ (top, level2(top)) for top in tops ]
>>                           if pair[1] ]
>>
>>   
> 
> I came up with something very similar:
> 
> tops = [1,2,3,4,5]
> 
> def level2(n):
>     m = n ** 2
>     if m%2:
>         return m
>     else:
>         return False
> 
> tree = [ (x, y) for x, y in [ ( x, level2(x) ) for x in tops ] if y ]
> print tree
> [(1, 1), (3, 9), (5, 25)]
> 
> 
> But, now I would debate conciseness vs. readability and 
> maintainability.  Will someone understand what's going on if they have 
> to read it?  Will you remember what it does in six months when you're 
> maintaining it?
> 
> Still, an interesting academic exercise.  :-)
> 
> e.
> 

It is perfectly understandable. Maybe the reason for doing it will not
be clear, you can always put a comment explaining you don't want to call
level2() twice.