[Edu-sig] Using try / except: any stipulations against routine use?

[Bert Freudenberg]

On 14.12.2011, at 22:42, Vernon Cole wrote:

> Sorry, Kirby, I'm afraid I disagree.
>       try:
>           res_dict[ext] += 1
>       except KeyError:
>           res_dict[ext] = 1
> is clear in intent and operation. It is a self-initializing occurrence counter.
> 
> On the other hand,
>      res_dict[ext] = res_dict.get(ext, 0) + 1
> is obscure.  Unless I go dig up the documentation of what the .get()
> operation does on a dictionary, I have no idea what the intention of
> the code is -- and I am (humbly) a very experienced programmer and
> Python programmer.  Also I doubt whether the one-line version is
> faster.  Without looking at the code, I would bet that .get() is
> implemented using a try / except structure. There is nothing wrong
> with that.
> 
> Remember the Zen of Python:
>>>> import this
> ...
> Readability counts.
> ...
> --
> Vernon

Isn't this at least as readable, and conceptually simpler?

    if ext in res_dict:
        res_dict[ext] += 1
    else: 
        res_dict[ext] = 1

Not arguing against exceptions in general, but in this case?

- Bert -