checking if a list is empty

[Prasad, Ramit]

>Common to what?  I'd try the lowest common denominator of
>legibility and effictiveness.
>It is just KISS.

Fair enough. I am a sheep, so I do what other (more knowledgeable) people do. It is a fair assumption (for my specific code writing environments) that everyone who is going to read my code understands "if x:" notation or is expected to learn enough Python to understand it.




Ramit



Ramit Prasad | JPMorgan Chase Investment Bank | Currencies Technology
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-----Original Message-----
From: python-list-bounces+ramit.prasad=jpmchase.com at python.org [mailto:python-list-bounces+ramit.prasad=jpmchase.com at python.org] On Behalf Of Hans Georg Schaathun
Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2011 1:16 PM
To: python-list at python.org
Subject: Re: checking if a list is empty

On Wed, 11 May 2011 13:50:54 -0400, Prasad, Ramit
  <ramit.prasad at jpmchase.com> wrote:
:  I find this argument to be flawed. Should I stop using built-in 
: generators instead of range/xrange for looping through lists?
: Certainly for loops with loop counting are understood more widely
: than generators. Should I stop using any advanced feature Python
: because it is difficult to understand without knowing Python?

No; I'd suggest the most legible and intuitive construct that /does/ the
job.  Never something which requires one extra (illegible) page to do
the job, or something which does not do the job at all.

:  I may not have made the point well, but I cannot see any advantage 
: for trying to program for the lowest common denominator.

-- 
:-- Hans Georg
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