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(PEP-308) Python's Conditional Selection Operators

Erik Max Francis max at alcyone.com
Fri Feb 14 21:34:32 EST 2003 
Terry Reedy wrote:

> Python's 'and' and 'or' are not the standard versions:
> 
> In logic, math, and computing science, 'and' and 'or' have well-known
> standard meanings as logical operators, either strict or
> domain-extended via operand coercion, and either conditional in
> execution or not.
> 
> In Python, 'and' and 'or' are generalized as conditional selection
> operators (as explained in following sections), with some unusual
> properties.

You say "standard versions" but there is no such thing in the realm of
computer science.  Python's and/or operators behave just like Lisp's,
for example, and Lisp has been around a very long time.

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