At 06:14 PM 5/1/2007 +0200, Martin v. Löwis wrote: >I still don't understand why the "no operation" statement is called >"pass" - it's not the opposite of "fail", and seems to have no >relationship to "can you pass me the butter, please?".
Actually, it does, in the sense that to "pass" on something means to give up the chance to take it. So, if butter is being passed around the dinner table, one who chooses not to take it, but passes it on to the next person, is said to be "passing on" (i.e. conceding the opportunity). Thus, when someone is offered something, they may say, "I'll pass", meaning they are declining to act. Ergo, to "pass" in Python is to decline to give up the opportunity to act. _______________________________________________ Python-3000 mailing list Python-3000@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-3000 Unsubscribe: http://mail.python.org/mailman/options/python-3000/archive%40mail-archive.com
