How best to write this try/except block?

[David Bolen]

Rich Harkins <rich at worldsinfinite.com> writes:

> Because of the is comparison even if "MYBLANKVALUE" is in d then this code 
> will still work.  Just don't intern whatever "MYBLANKVALUE" is (I frequently 
> use undefined="UNDEFINED").

Of course, that's getting interned automatically anyway:

    >>> undefined="UNDEFINED"
    >>> foo="UNDEFINED"
    >>> id(undefined),id(foo)
    (8357472, 8357472)
    >>> foo is undefined
    1

You could play games (adding a space, or using a non-identifier
character) but then you're coding to a specific implementation and
optimization which could change at any time.

If you need to go this approach (wouldn't be my first choice), you
could at least use a mutable object (say []) which would be safest and
known to be unique.

--
-- David
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