Which idiom is better? try: ... except Attr..Err or hasattr?

[Alexander Williams]

On Thu, 27 Jan 2000 08:40:07 +0100 (MET), Peter Funk
<pf at artcom-gmbh.de> wrote:

>Which coding idiom is better?  The second form is one line shorter than

Personally, I prefer the former idiom with try/except; some object
because its slightly slower than the other, but I find it clearer.

Perhaps most important from an efficiency PoV is that the try/except
structure really implies you expect the except clause to /really/ be
the uncommon case, a true exception.  If it happens roughly 50% of the
time, the if hasattr() construct may be more what you want in terms of
intent.  If its the general case, reverse the sense of your try.  :)

-- 
Alexander Williams (thantos at gw.total-web.net)           | In the End,
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