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PEP-308 a "simplicity-first" alternative

Tony Lownds tony-clpy at lownds.com
Wed Feb 12 04:16:49 EST 2003 
holger krekel <pyth at devel.trillke.net> wrote in message news:<mailman.1045011836.2867.python-list at python.org>...
>
>     and_test: not_test ('and' not_test ['else' not_test])*
> 

So its a ternary operator not two binary operators.

I could like that syntax, over time. Nobody would guess this, no
matter what thier background. I think newcomers might squint at it
too. On the other hand, it "fixes the idiom" quite well, changing  x
and y or z  -->  x and y else z  is just a small change. It's also
nice that the "else" bit is usefully removable.

The if x: y else: x syntax still doesn't read like an expression for
me, probably because it doesn;t look like an operator. Whether the
"else" has a colon or not seems forgettable. But its pretty readable.

I'm +0 on either of those syntaxes, but I'm still +1 on ?:  Its
readable by anyone knowledgable in C, C++, Java, Javascript, Ruby,
Perl, PHP, and the list goes on. I think it will be easy to remember
and explain too. And concise. Most of all, it visually parses the best
for me.

-Tony
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