else on the same line - howto

[Alex Martelli]

Helmut Jarausch wrote:
   ...
> So it's a pity that PEP 308 has been rejected since nobody is forced to
> use such a construct if he/she doesn't like to.

Anybody programming as a part of a group can be "forced to use a construct"
when maintaining others' code that uses it, or pair-programming with another
who does; and similarly for anybody who consults for that group, or teaches
Python to people who need to join such a group, or writes books which are
meant to teach or at least entirely cover the language, and so on.

Only in a hypothetical world where each programmer "owns" his or her code
*exclusively* and never shows those sources to anybody else would your
contention about "nobody is forced" hold water.  In a world where groups of
people cooperate, courses are taught, books are written, and so on, it
doesn't.  Each feature added to a language carries weight for _everybody_
who uses that language, except for the hypothetical isolated programmer (so
isolated he never even downloads code from the net to adapt it for his or
her purposes -- QUITE hypothetical nowadays).


Alex