[Python-Dev] A Hygienic Macro System in Python? (original) (raw)

Jeremy Hylton jeremy@zope.com
Mon, 18 Mar 2002 16:24:47 -0500

On Mon, 18 Mar 2002 16:10:40 -0500 Tom Emerson <tree@basistech.com> wrote:

I find using 'unless' makes some things more readable. To learn the internals of the compiler I've been adding an unless statement to Python, but one shouldn't need to do this in order to add useful constructions like this.

Funny you should pick this example! I have been struggling with a collection of C code where the author used an UNLESS() macro. I find it obscures the program logic significantly. In part, I'm sure it's because I don't use it in any of my own C code, so it's an oddball control flow constructs to my eyes. I'm not sure that I'd like to see Python programmers acquire to many ways to spell if :-).

Jeremy