if the else short form

[NevilleDNZ]

On Oct 7, 10:36 am, "BartC" <b... at freeuk.com> wrote:
> i=16
> x = {1 : fna(), 2 : fnb(), 3 : fnc()}.get(i, "None Of The Above")
> print x
>
> Other than efficiency concerns, sometimes you don't want the extra
> side-effects.
>
> Probably there are workarounds here too, but I suspect the syntax won't be
> quite as pert as the Algol68-style example:
>
> x = (i | "Zero", "One", "Two" | "None of the above")      # 0-based

/* ¢ Algol68 case clause is 1-based. ¢ */

However Algol68's CASE ~ IN ~,~,~,~ OUT ~ ESAC clause does mean that
the case items of the clause are not evaluated unless selected.  Here
are some comparisons with python:

$ cat py_case.py
#!/usr/bin/env python
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

# This procedure evaluates all the months lengths _before_ building
the dict.
# In that case of month length, they are constants.

def days_in_month0(year, month):
  return {1:31,
    2:{True:29,False:28}[year%4==0 and year%100!=0 or year%400==0],
    3:31,4:30,5:31,6:30,7:31,8:31,9:30,10:31,11:30,12:31
  }.get(month,None)

# This procedure is closer - in behaviour - to that of the algol68
case clause.
# Keypoint being that individual month length code is not evaluated
unless called()
def days_in_month(year, month):
  return {1:lambda:31,
    2:lambda:{True:lambda:29,False:lambda:28}[year%4==0 and year%100!
=0 or year%400==0](),
    3:lambda:31,4:lambda:30,5:lambda:31,6:lambda:30,7:lambda:
31,8:lambda:31,9:lambda:30,10:lambda:31,11:lambda:30,12:lambda:31
  }.get(month,"None of the above")()

for year in 1899,1900,1901,1999,2000,2001:
  print "%4d=%2d"%(year,days_in_month0(year, 2)),

"""

Compare with Algol 68:

Brief choice clause example:

PROC days in month = (INT year, month)UNION(INT,STRING):
  (month|31,
    (year%×4=0 ∧ year%×100≠0 ∨ year%×400=0|29|28),
    31,30,31,30,31,31,30,31,30,31
  |"None of the above" # or EMPTY #
  );

BOLD choice clause example:

PROC days in month = (INT year, month)UNION(INT,STRING):
  CASE month IN 31,
    IF year MOD 4 EQ 0 AND year MOD 100 NE 0 OR year MOD 400 EQ 0 THEN
29 ELSE 28 FI,
    31,30,31,30,31,31,30,31,30,31
  OUT "None of the above" # or EMPTY #
  ESAC;

[]INT years = (1899,1900,1901,1999,2000,2001);
FOR key TO UPB years DO INT year=years[key];
  printf(($4d,"="2d" "$, year, days in month(year, 2)))
OD
"""

$ python py_case.py
1899=28 1900=28 1901=28 1999=28 2000=29 2001=28

There are also the compound IF and CASE conditional clauses:

 IF condition1 THEN statements ELIF condition2 THEN statements [ ELSE
statements ] FI
 "brief" form if IF clause:  ( condition1 | statements |: condition2 |
statements | statements )

 CASE switch1 IN statements, statements,... OUSE switch2 IN
statements, statements,... [ OUT statements ] ESAC
 "brief" form of CASE statement:  ( switch1 |
statements,statements,... |: switch2 | statements,statements,... |
statements )

Enjoy
NevilleDNZ
--
To download Linux's Algol68 Compiler, Interpreter & Runtime:
* http://sourceforge.net/projects/algol68/files