[Python-Dev] Chaining try statements: eltry?

[Nick Coghlan]

Greg Ewing wrote:
> Guido van Rossum wrote:
> 
> 
>>I sometimes think it was
>>a mistake to introduce elif just to save typing "else if".
>>
>>The problem with the elwhile/elfor/eltry idea 
> 
>  > is that you're just as likely to need e.g.
> 
>>a "try" in the else clause of a while-loop as another while,
> 
> 
> Here's an idea for Python 3000 which addresses both of
> these: Split 'elif' back up into 'else if', but also
> generalise it so that any 'else' can be followed by any
> suite-introducing statement. Then you get all possible
> combinations for free.

I don't think that's a good idea. What would the following monstrosity mean?:

   if 0:
       print "Ran the if"
   else for item in (1, 2, 3):
       print item
   else try:
       print "No exception here!"
   except:
       pass
   else:
       print "Who's else is this, anyway?"

The use-case of 'elif' or 'else if' to avoid nested if statements is strong, 
but the use cases for the ability to mix compound statements together is 
significantly weaker.

Cheers,
Nick.

-- 
Nick Coghlan   |   ncoghlan at gmail.com   |   Brisbane, Australia
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