[Python-Dev] I'd like list.pop to accept an optional second

[Barry A. Warsaw]

>>>>> "M" == M  <mal@lemburg.com> writes:

    M> Wouldn't a generic builtin for these kinds of things be
    M> better, e.g. a function returning a default value in case
    M> an exception occurs... something like:

    M> tryexcept(list.pop(), IndexError, default)

    M> which returns default in case an IndexError occurs. Don't think
    M> this would be much faster that the explicit try:...except:
    M> though...

Don't know if this would be better (or useful, etc.), but it could
possibly be faster than explicit try/except, because with try/except
you have to instantiate the exception object.  Presumably tryexcept()
-- however it was spelled -- would catch the exception in C, thus
avoiding the overhead of exception object instantiation.

-Barry