[Python-ideas] relaxing keyword usage restrictions

[Jacob Holm]

On 2011-09-09 19:31, Georg Brandl wrote:
> Am 09.09.2011 09:48, schrieb Terry Reedy:
>> On 9/9/2011 2:04 AM, H Krishnan wrote:
>>> 
[snip]
>>
>> Funny you should choose that example. With a slight change
>>    myreturn = yield - principal
>> it is legal syntax today with 'yield' interpreted as a keyword. So it 
>> cannot be interpreted as an identifier without making Python grammar 
>> ambiguous and unparseable with its current parser.
> 
> Actually, it isn't: "yield" expressions, like generator expressions, need
> to be inside parentheses.  (A rule that's an ambiguousness restriction and
> a nice readability helper.)

Actually it is, at least in 3.1 (I don't have a more recent version to
test on ATM).  It is the same as

   myreturn = yield (-principal)

It computes and yields the value (-principal).  When resumed by a "send"
on the generator the argument is assigned to myreturn.  If resumed by
"next" instead, this is treated as send(None).

I agree that this is confusing.  In spite of all my work hashing out the
details of PEP 380, I still initially thought it would work like

   myreturn = (yield) - principal

probably because of the context where "yield" was supposed to be a
regular variable name.  (An idea I'm -1 on, btw).


Based on this, I would support a change to outlaw

  myreturn = yield - principal

forcing you to add the parentheses to clearly show which interpretation
is intended.

However, I would still want to keep the statement form

  yield -principal

legal, so I am not sure if that proposal has a chance to fly.

- Jacob