On Tue, 12 Sep 2017 20:01:52 -0700, Rick Johnson wrote: > But just because we have been trained that the implicit `if x:` is > shorthand for the reasonable `if bool(x) == True:`
That's not reasonable. bool(x) already returns a True or False flag, comparing it to True is superfluous. (Regardless of whether you use `is` or a slower equality test.) It is excessively redundantly surplus. And where do you stop? If you don't believe `bool(x)` is a flag, then you can't believe `bool(x) == True` either, leading you into an infinite regress of superfluous redundancy: if (bool(x) == True) == True: if ((bool(x) == True) == True) == True: if (((bool(x) == True) == True) == True) == True: if ((((bool(x) == True) == True) == True) == True) == True: if (((((bool(x) == True) == True) == True) == True) == True) == True: # help, I don't know how to stop!!!! The *only* reasonable place to stop is right at the beginning: if bool(x): at least for languages like Pascal and Java where `if` requires a specific boolean type. And assuming x is not already a bool. If it is a bool, you of course wouldn't redundantly call bool on it repeatedly again and again redundantly: if bool(bool(bool(bool(bool( ... (x)))))))...) # help, I don't know where to stop!!! If x is already a flag, then it would be silly to waste time calling bool even once. You wouldn't write this: a = int(25) b = int(30) c = int( (int(a) + int(b))*int(2) ) values = list([1, 2, 3]) x = list(values)[int(c)] No, its quite obvious that anyone who would call bool() on something which is already a bool, let alone the even more excessively superfluous `if bool(x) is True`, is a cargo-cult programmer who isn't fluent enough in the Python language to know what they're doing. And of course the beauty of duck-typing in Python is that *everything* is a bool, or at least quacks like a bool and swims like a bool. [...] > they're just reductio ad absurdum. I see that your understanding of logical fallacies is as penetrating and profound as your understanding of Python's design. -- Steven D'Aprano “You are deluded if you think software engineers who can't write operating systems or applications without security holes, can write virtualization layers without security holes.” —Theo de Raadt -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
