Why doesn't JUMP_IF_FALSE do POP_TOP ?

[Tim Peters]

[Bengt Richter]
> It seems like usually POP_TOP is the next byte code on either branch.
> Or is there a difficult case where the value is needed on the stack?
> It seems like the 99% case is getting the overhead (and also making the
> polling interval counter count unnecessary codes).

I've been asking that for years <wink>.  The only reak answer is "it seemed
like a good idea at the time".  Chained comparisons exploit it, but offhand
I don't recall anything else.