Is there a better/simpler way to filter blank lines?

[Marc 'BlackJack' Rintsch]

On Wed, 05 Nov 2008 14:39:36 +1100, Ben Finney wrote:

> Marc 'BlackJack' Rintsch <bj_666 at gmx.net> writes:
> 
>> On Wed, 05 Nov 2008 13:18:27 +1100, Ben Finney wrote:
>> 
>> > Marc 'BlackJack' Rintsch <bj_666 at gmx.net> writes:
>> > 
>> > Your example shows only that they're important for grouping the
>> > expression from surrounding syntax. As I said.
>> > 
>> > They are *not* important for making the expresison be a generator
>> > expression in the first place. Parentheses are irrelevant for the
>> > generator expression syntax.
>> 
>> Okay, technically correct but parenthesis belong to generator
>> expressions because they have to be there to separate them from
>> surrounding syntax with the exception when there are already enclosing
>> parentheses.  So parenthesis are tied to generator expression syntax.
> 
> No, I think that's factually wrong *and* confusing.
> 
>     >>> list(i + 7 for i in range(10))
>     [7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16]
> 
> Does this demonstrate that parentheses are “tied to” integer literal
> syntax? No.

You can use integer literals without parenthesis, like the 7 above, but 
you can't use generator expressions without them.  They are always 
there.  In that way parenthesis are tied to generator expressions.

If I see the pattern ``f(x) for x in obj if c(x)`` I look if it is 
enclosed in parenthesis or brackets to decide if it is a list 
comprehension or a generator expression.  That may not reflect the formal 
grammar, but it is IMHO the easiest and pragmatic way to look at this as 
a human programmer.

Ciao,
	Marc 'BlackJack' Rintsch