[Tutor] mnemonics to better learn Python

[Dave Angel]

Eduardo Vieira wrote:
> <snip>
>   
> Hello, would anybody have a good memorization technique for boolean
> results? Like when using 'or'/'and' what it returns when both are
> false, the last is false, etc?
> I find it so hard to remember that...
> Eduardo
>
>   
I don't blame you for finding it hard to remember.  The English language 
(and probably most others, but I wouldn't know) lets people abuse these 
meanings, but programming insists you get it right.

If you think of 0 for False, and 1 for True, then
    or      is      plus           a sum is nonzero if a is 1 or if b is 
1  (or both)
    and   is      times          a product is only nonzero if both a and 
b are 1
    xor    is      minus        a difference is zero only if a is the 
same as b  (both True, or both False)


In simple electrical circuitry,   'or'  is switches in parallel, 'and'  
is switches in series.

In programming terms,  and is nested ifs, while or is two ifs at the 
same level, either of which does the same thing.

def and(a, b):
     if  a:
          if b:
                 print "this is the and of the two"
                 return True
    else:
                 return False
def  or(a, b):
    if a:
             print "this is the or"
             return True
    if b:
             print "this is the or"
             return True
    return False


DaveA