ACCEPTED: PEP 285

[Andrew Dalke]

Guido:
>Despite the negative feedback, I've decided to accept the PEP.  The
>most important perceived problem is that newbies tend to write
>
>    if x == True: ...
>
>where they should write
>
>    if x: ...
>
>I believe this problem should be solved by education (the Zen master
>hits the student on the head with a stick, and the student gets
>enlightenment)

Personally, my problems with the PEP were mere quibbles, so I didn't
comment.  I think most code that breaks with this change wasn't very
good code in the first place.  But I've reading through Boudewijn
Rempt's  QT book at
 http://www.opendocspublishing.com/pyqt/index.lxp?lxpwrap=c1267%2ehtm
and noticed


    def add(self, occasion, function):
        if self.connections.has_key(occasion) == 0:
            self.connections[occasion]=[function]
        else:
            self.connections[occasion].append(function)

when it should have said
        if not self.connection.has_key(occasion):

I know this will still work correctly since False == 0,
but I suspect this means there's many people who are doing
explicit checks for 0/1 (/whatever?) for truth tests.

Treat this post as a stick.  :)

                    Andrew
                    dalke at dalkescientific.com