Please Critique

[John Farrell]

Klaus Baldermann wrote:
> John Farrell wrote in message <3855DB3D.998F3081 at mincom.com>...
> >>     while start < length:
> >>         end = start + 4
> >>         startkey = start + 1
> >>         mydict[trimline[startkey:end]] = trimline[start:end]
> >>         start = end
> 
> >    while len(line) >= 4:
> >        instruction = line[0]
> >        number = line[1:4]
> >        line = line[4:]
> >        mydict[number] = instruction
> 
> This could be even more perlified:
> 
>     while len(line) >= 4:
>         mydict.update({line[1:4]: line[0]})
>         line = line[4:]

Isn't perlification bad? I realised I could cut down on lines, but given
that one of the comments on the original code was that it needed more
comments, I decided to write for readability rather than perlicity.

On the subject of comments, Kernighan and Plauger wrote: "Do not comment
bad code, rewrite it." That is not to say that the original code was bad,
just that adding comments is usually not the best solution. See discussion
at:

http://www.c2.com/cgi/wiki?TreatCommentsWithSuspicion

John
-- 
Dr John Farrell - Research Architect - Mincom Limited

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