[Python-Dev] Use an empty def as a lambda (original) (raw)

Alexander Belopolsky alexander.belopolsky at gmail.com
Fri Sep 20 00:19:47 CEST 2013


On Thu, Sep 19, 2013 at 4:54 PM, Ben Gift <benhgift at gmail.com> wrote:

It would be more pythonic to use an empty def call instead.

No, it won't. Python draws a very strong distinction between expressions and statements. This line has been blurred somewhat with the advent of comprehensions and the if-else expression, but it would still require more benefit than three characters in a keyword saving to allow def use in both statements and expressions.

The following, for example, does not look pythonic at all:

def transform(seq, func=def(x):x): ...

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