[Python-Dev] Adding a conditional expression in Py3.0 (original) (raw)

Gareth McCaughan gmccaughan at synaptics-uk.com
Mon Sep 26 12:14:09 CEST 2005

On Saturday 2005-09-24 04:21, Terry Reedy wrote:

Never wrote a single line, and may have not read one (in DDJ? Byte?) for 15-20 years. How do you read such C? Cond 'Qmark' ....?

I seldom have to read C code aloud, and the ?: operator is rare-ish; but I would suggest reading a?b:c as "a chooses b else c" or (shaving a syllable) "a gives b else c" or something like that. Or, ploddingly but unambiguously, "a query b colon c".

Now, can you honestly say that you would (naively) read

return foo if bar else baz and be certain you knew what it meant?

I can't imagine actually reading it as if "foo" were the condition. But I can imagine reading it, to begin with, as if it were a Perlish conditionalized statement: "(return foo) if bar else ... aw heck, that can't be right". Which is probably benign but slows down comprehension.

-- g

More information about the Python-Dev mailing list