PEP308: Proposing function-call syntax
Erik Max Francis
max at alcyone.com
Mon Feb 10 05:23:02 EST 2003
"Anders J. Munch" wrote:
> Yet-another PEP 308 proposal:
> ifelse(condition, iftrue, iffalse)
>
> That is, use plain old function call notation, but with 'ifelse' being
> a keyword recognised by the interpreter, so that arguments are only
> evaluated as necessary.
....
> Con:
> Looks like a function call but isn't. People might expect arguments
> to be fully evaluated.
This is a really big con. It introduces a special form that looks like
a function call, something totally unprecedented in Python. In fact,
the lack of special forms is one of Python's strengths, in my opinion:
When I see code that looks like a function call, I know exactly what's
going on and what to expect. Add this, and that assurance goes out the
window.
--
Erik Max Francis / max at alcyone.com / http://www.alcyone.com/max/
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