undefined | Better HN

0 pointsmbreese6y ago0 comments

It's not about experience vs inexperience... it's about code readability and being unsurprising.

    m = re.match(...)
    if m:
        ... do something ...

is verbose, but quite readable. Given that it's the way things have been done since forever, it's also unsurprising.

    if m := re.match(...):
        ... do something ...

Without knowing what the walrus operator is, it is not entirely clear what is going on here. := is only syntactic sugar, which is not what Python has ever been about.

0 comments

clinta6y ago

Python already has " as " operator that I think is very readable.

  with open('file') as f:
      ... do something ...

I don't know why that didn't come out on top in the debate.

  if re.match(...) as m:
      ... do something ...

owaislone6y ago

If feel Go solves this in a much more readable way.

    if m := re.match(...); m {
        ... do something ...
    }

Still not as readable as splitting it over multiple lines but quite a lot better than Python's syntax IMO especially once you learn how the if statement works in Go.

mkl6y ago

How is that more readable? It's identical except for ":" -> ";", and some extra symbols added. Needing to repeat "m" seems seems redundant, and particularly bad for readability as it moves the actual condition far away from the "if".

owaislone6y ago

It is better IMO because it doesn't merge two things into one. It simply translates to `if <assignment>; <condition> { <body> }` as a generic rule. Variable used in condition may or may not be the same one in assignment. Bundling assignment and condition is what people don't like about this feature.

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0 comments

clinta6y ago

Python already has " as " operator that I think is very readable.

  with open('file') as f:
      ... do something ...

I don't know why that didn't come out on top in the debate.

  if re.match(...) as m:
      ... do something ...

owaislone6y ago

If feel Go solves this in a much more readable way.

    if m := re.match(...); m {
        ... do something ...
    }

Still not as readable as splitting it over multiple lines but quite a lot better than Python's syntax IMO especially once you learn how the if statement works in Go.

mkl6y ago

owaislone6y ago

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse