[Tutor] am I missing another simpler structure?

[Juan Shen]

Kent, Bingle!
Python's 'and' and 'or' operation only returns the right value (any kind 
of value: integer, string, list, excuting a function and so on) not 
Boolean value (True or False).  It's a real fuzzy tip for beginners. 
See Chapter 4.6 of Dive into Python for futher reading
    Juan Shen

Kent Johnson wrote:

> It's probably worth pointing out that these two functions are not 
> entirely equivalent:
> def t1():
>   if condition:
>     return True
>   return False
>
> def t2():
>   return condition
>
> because 'condition' does not have to evaluate to a boolean value, it 
> can be any Python value.
>
> Here is a simple example where 'condition' is just the value of a 
> parameter:
> >>> def t1(a):
> ...   if a:
> ...     return True
> ...   return False
> ...
> >>> def t2(a):
> ...   return a
> ...
>
> If a is actually True or False these two functions return the same value:
> >>> a=True; print t1(a), t2(a)
> True True
> >>> a=False; print t1(a), t2(a)
> False False
>
> For other values of a they return different values; t1 will always 
> return True or False, while t2, obviously, returns a:
> >>> a=1; print t1(a), t2(a)
> True 1
> >>> a=None; print t1(a), t2(a)
> False None
> >>> a=[]; print t1(a), t2(a)
> False []
>
> Usually this is fine; code such as
> if t1(a): print 'a is True'
>
> will work the same with t1 or t2. OTOH, if you explicitly test the 
> return value (which is *not* recommended practice), you will get 
> different results:
> >>> if t1(100) == True: print '100 is True'
> ...
> 100 is True
>
> >>> if t2(100) == True: print '100 is True'
> ...
> (nothing prints)
>
> I recommend *not* testing explicitly for True, and I recommend the 
> t2() form. Then Python will do what you expect. But I thought it was 
> worth pointing out the difference.
>
> Kent
>
> Gregor Lingl wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> Brian van den Broek schrieb:
>>
>>> If my original bit of code, the structure was like:
>>>
>>> output_value = False
>>> if condition:
>>>     output_value = True
>>> return output_value
>>>
>>> Mine would be like yours if transformed to:
>>>
>>> if condition:
>>>     return True
>>> return False
>>>
>>
>> Hi Brian!
>> Do you mean, that condition is something which is
>> True od False?
>> And if condition is True you want to return True?
>> And if condition is False you want to return False?
>>
>> So why not simlpy:
>>
>> return condition
>>
>> ?
>>
>> Regards,
>> Gregor
>>
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>>
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