Short if

[Chris S.]

Paul Sweeney wrote:

>>Does Python have a short if like C or PHP:
>>
>>  bool = false
>>  string = 'This is ' + (( bool ) ? 'true' : 'false')
>>
> 
> 
> 
> If you are really convinced that this is a good road to go down (think of
> code readability), you could do
> 
>     bool = False   # check capitalisation!
>     string = 'This is ' + ('false','true')[bool]
> 
> I never liked the C ? operator, always finding code was clearer using the
> full if, and this hack is even worse!
> 

It's not about code readability. It's about functional programming. 
Lambda expressions don't make very readable code, but Python supports 
them anyway. If Python is serious about it's functional aspects, it 
requires a ternary operator. Only in the context of functional 
programming is this relevant, which makes the whole "it's ugly" argument 
moot. Besides, a real ternary, instead of
((condition) and [truecase] or [falsecase])[0]
looks a whole lot better IMO.