= vs. == in Py3k

[Mark Jackson]

"Lawrence Kesteloot" <lk at veriomail.com> writes:
> 
> If one of the goals of Python 3000 is to make it easy for new
> programmers to learn, how about removing the distinction
> between = and ==?  The only kinds of examples I can think of
> where this is useful is something like:
> 
>     a = b = 5
> 
> vs.
> 
>     a = b == 5
> 
> But this isn't worth the trouble it gives new programmers.  The
> syntax could be changed to make = and == equivalent tokens
> and have the parser figure out which is meant from the context,

But "=" and "==" have different *meanings*, and in Python the
difference is even bigger than in most languages.  Anything that
muddies the meaning of assignment is no favor to new Python
programmers.

> just as it's done in Basic.

Another reason against. . .

-- 
Mark Jackson - http://www.alumni.caltech.edu/~mjackson
	You can never solve all difficulties at once.
				- Paul Dirac