Voting for PEP 308 (was Re: For review: PEP 308 - If-then-else expression)

[Alex Martelli]

Stephen Horne wrote:
   ...
> I've thought about it this approach quite a bit, and (once a range of
> knock-on effects are considered) the overall approach seems almost
> like a new paradigm - perhaps 'system oriented' rather than 'object
> oriented'.

I suggest you study Dylan, which has multiple dispatch and a slightly
different approach that is, however, reminescent in some respects of
what I think you're discussing -- you will probably find it rather
interesting.  I think Dylan's lack of success is due to other factors
(Apple's ups and downs with it -- the presence of an extremely powerful
macro system -- etc, etc) and I'd hope the lessons it suggests are not
entirely forgotten.  Multiple dispatch, in particular, is an idea well
worth preserving, IMHO.


Alex