replacing `else` with `then` in `for` and `try`

[Chris Angelico]

On Thu, Nov 2, 2017 at 8:23 AM, Ned Batchelder <ned at nedbatchelder.com> wrote:
> On 11/1/17 5:12 PM, Alexey Muranov wrote:
>>
>> Hello,
>>
>> what do you think about the idea of replacing "`else`" with "`then`" in
>> the contexts of `for` and `try`?
>>
>> It seems clear that it should be rather "then" than "else." Compare also
>> "try ... then ... finally" with "try ... else ... finally".
>>
>> Currently, with "else", it is almost impossible to guess the meaning
>> without looking into the documentation.
>>
>> Off course, it should not be changed in Python 3, maybe in Python 4 or 5,
>> but in Python 3 `then` could be an alias of `else` in these contexts.
>>
>> Alexey.
>>
>
> Apart from the questions of backward compatibility etc (Python is unlikely
> to ever go through another shift like the 2/3 breakage), are you sure "then"
> is what you mean?  This won't print "end":
>
>     for i in range(10):
>         print(i)
>     else:
>         print(end)

Well, it'll bomb with NameError when it tries to look up the *name*
end. But it will run that line of code - if you quote it, it will
work.

ChrisA