walrus with a twist :+= or ...

[Chris Angelico]

On Thu, Oct 28, 2021 at 11:58 AM Avi Gross via Python-list
<python-list at python.org> wrote:
> On a serious note, if it was ever considered a good idea, what would be an
> acceptable sequence of symbols that might not break or confuse existing
> programs and what would we call it? I mean what animal, of course.
>
>
>
> What do these look like in some fonts? :+=   :-=   :*=   :/=   :%=
>

What we need is a few more generic operators that can be put together
appropriately. For instance, when you need a copy of a list, you can
use the "robot face" operator:

stuff[:]

Perhaps we need some more slice variants. We can already grin:

stuff[
    :D
]

and stick out our tongues:

stuff[
    :P
]

and even gasp in surprise:

stuff[
    :O
]

but the language has an emotional bias towards sadness:

stuff[
    :(
)]

since there's no corresponding happiness emoji, nor even ambivalence:

stuff[
    :|
]

However, a wry smile is permitted.

stuff[
    :\
]

The lack of language support for such a fundamental emotion as
happiness is a major flaw and needs to be corrected ASAP.

ChrisA