For review: PEP 308 - If-then-else expression

[Sean Ross]

>From updated PEP308:

> Another variant proposes to use 'when' instead of 'if':
>
>        <expression1> when <condition> else <expression2>
>
>    I don't see the advantage of 'when' over 'if'; it adds a new
>    keyword which is a major extra hurdle to introduce this.  I think
>    that using a different keyword suggests that the semantics are
>    different than those of an 'if' statement; but they really aren't
>    (only the syntax is different).

It would appear that adding a new keyword is a problem: "major extra
hurdle", to be precise. There _really_ aren't any semantic differences, per
se. I just thought it would help distinguish between if expressions and if
statements and it would eliminate the possibility of
    if x if C else y:
        pass
But, it looks like     x if C else y   will cause fewer problems to
implement, and besides its not that difficult to tell the difference between
   if C:
       x
   else:
       y
and
    x if C else y

And, as someone posted, you can always use
    if (x if C else y):
        pass

So, I think I'll just give the 'when' advocacy a rest...
(I do still prefer it, though... ;D )


"Chris Liechti" <cliechti at gmx.net> wrote in message
news:Xns931CD07B75144cliechtigmxnet at 62.2.16.82...
> as for the new keyword 'when', i don't see a problem. the new syntax isn't
> backwards compatible anyway, so that a new keyword does not make a
> differece for backwards compatibility.
>