[Tutor] how best to remove an item from a dict

[Alan Gauld]

On 07/01/2020 00:55, Alex Kleider wrote:
> 
> Which is best:
> 
>   >>>   _ = d.pop(key)
> or
>   >>>    del d[key]
> ??
> 
>   >>> import this
> ..
> There should be one-- and preferably only one --obvious way to do it.
> Although that way may not be obvious at first unless you're Dutch.

The second one is best, it clearly describes the intended effect.

The first one uses a side-effect of the pop/assignment operation,
its only when the _ changes value that the dict item goes out
of scope and is deleted.

A clearly defined operation is always better than a disguised one.
Especially from a maintenance point of view, and given maintenance
is the most expensive part of programming, that is critical.

-- 
Alan G
Author of the Learn to Program web site
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