[Python-Dev] Half-baked proposal: * (and **?) in assignments (original) (raw)

Skip Montanaro skip@pobox.com
Sat, 23 Nov 2002 11:12:45 -0600 

>> But which do you like better:
>> 
>> year, month, day = time.localtime()[0:3]
>> 
>> or
>> 
>> year, month, day, *dummy = time.localtime()
>> 

Brett> In all honesty, the top one.  The *dummy variable strikes me as
Brett> cluttering the assignment variables.

From what little ELisp programming I did in the dim dark past, I would prefer the second variant written as

year, month, day, *rest = time.localtime()

Brett> The reason this kind of thing is okay for parameter passing is
Brett> that you might have the possibility of extra arguments, but you
Brett> want that possibility.  This example, though, does not have that
Brett> benefit since you know you don't want what ``dummy`` gets.

Yes you do. You know it gets the stuff you don't care about. ;-)

Skip