Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true

References	(5 earlier) <4DA4DB0F.8040509@stoneleaf.us> <1302650129.8890.0.camel@localhost.localdomain> <mailman.295.1302651485.9059.python-list@python.org> <4da4e856$0$29986$c3e8da3$5496439d@news.astraweb.com> <4DA50D89.3090706@stoneleaf.us>
Date	2011-04-13 13:00 +1000
Subject	Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true
From	Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com>
Newsgroups	comp.lang.python
Message-ID	<mailman.300.1302663656.9059.python-list@python.org> (permalink)

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On Wed, Apr 13, 2011 at 12:42 PM, Ethan Furman <ethan@stoneleaf.us> wrote:
> The indentation for return and raise is the next coded line.  List comps and
> gen exps are basically uber-functions, and regardless of how you categorize
> them when they finish it is easy to see where control goes to next because
> of indentation.  With this idea flow can leave the function with no
> indentation clue, making it easy to miss (assuming, of course, it's not some
> bright syntax highlighted color).

So if I have a function that can early-abort, I should indent after that?

def foo(param):
    resource=malloc(50000) # Shtarker, zis is Python! We don't malloc here!
    if not resource: return 0
    resource[param]=5
    del resource
    return 1

Now, this pattern of "attempt to acquire resource, return if unable
to" is probably better recoded as "acquire resource and have it throw
an error if it can't"; but if you're eyeballing for control-flow
changes, a called function throwing an error is even less obvious than
an if: return.

Where should the indentation go?

As I understand it, Python uses indents the way C uses braces - to
delimit blocks of code. The only reason to indent in foo() above would
be if the if has an else:

    if not resource: return 0
    else:
        resource[param]=5
        del resource
        return 1

or, flipping that the other way around:

    if resource:
        resource[param]=5
        del resource
        return 1
    return 0

but both of these are grossly inferior to:

def foo(param):
    resource=generate_resource()
    resource.dosomething(param,5)
    return 1

However, what's to tell you that generate_resource() will throw a
KaosError if Siegfried is around?

(Oh, and apologies to all for picking a different comedy source for my
references. Sometimes even a python has to get smart...)

Chris Angelico

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Feature suggestion -- return if true zildjohn01 <zildjohn01@gmail.com> - 2011-04-11 16:17 -0700
  Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true James Mills <prologic@shortcircuit.net.au> - 2011-04-12 10:27 +1000
    Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2011-04-12 01:44 +0000
      Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true James Mills <prologic@shortcircuit.net.au> - 2011-04-12 12:12 +1000
        Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2011-04-12 02:18 +0000
          Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true James Mills <prologic@shortcircuit.net.au> - 2011-04-12 12:44 +1000
            Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2011-04-12 13:42 +0000
            Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true "Martin v. Loewis" <martin@v.loewis.de> - 2011-04-17 12:03 +0200
              Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true James Mills <prologic@shortcircuit.net.au> - 2011-04-18 09:36 +1000
      Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true James Mills <prologic@shortcircuit.net.au> - 2011-04-12 12:20 +1000
      Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true Zero Piraeus <schesis@gmail.com> - 2011-04-11 22:43 -0400
      Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-04-12 12:44 +1000
      Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-04-12 12:49 +1000
      Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true James Mills <prologic@shortcircuit.net.au> - 2011-04-12 12:59 +1000
      Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true James Mills <prologic@shortcircuit.net.au> - 2011-04-12 13:01 +1000
        Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true Nobody <nobody@nowhere.com> - 2011-04-12 07:08 +0100
          Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true James Mills <prologic@shortcircuit.net.au> - 2011-04-12 16:21 +1000
            Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2011-04-12 10:52 +0000
            Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true scattered <tooscattered@gmail.com> - 2011-04-12 03:55 -0700
              Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true "Colin J. Williams" <cjw@ncf.ca> - 2011-04-12 10:01 -0400
            Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2011-04-12 13:50 +0000
        Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2011-04-12 13:44 +0000
      Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true Westley Martínez <anikom15@gmail.com> - 2011-04-12 07:05 -0700
        Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true scattered <tooscattered@gmail.com> - 2011-04-12 07:58 -0700
          Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true Westley Martínez <anikom15@gmail.com> - 2011-04-12 15:45 -0700
          Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-04-13 08:52 +1000
        Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true zildjohn01 <zildjohn01@gmail.com> - 2011-04-12 11:25 -0700
          Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true Terry Reedy <tjreedy@udel.edu> - 2011-04-12 15:14 -0400
          Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true alex23 <wuwei23@gmail.com> - 2011-04-12 21:05 -0700
    Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true Teemu Likonen <tlikonen@iki.fi> - 2011-04-12 21:00 +0300
      Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2011-04-12 12:25 -0600
        Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true Neil Cerutti <neilc@norwich.edu> - 2011-04-12 20:13 +0000
          Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true Neil Cerutti <neilc@norwich.edu> - 2011-04-12 20:16 +0000
      Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2011-04-12 12:29 -0600
      Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true Paul Rudin <paul.nospam@rudin.co.uk> - 2011-04-12 19:28 +0100
      Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true Chris Rebert <clp2@rebertia.com> - 2011-04-12 13:26 -0700
      Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true James Mills <prologic@shortcircuit.net.au> - 2011-04-13 08:34 +1000
      Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true Ethan Furman <ethan@stoneleaf.us> - 2011-04-12 16:06 -0700
      Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true James Mills <prologic@shortcircuit.net.au> - 2011-04-13 09:12 +1000
      Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true Westley Martínez <anikom15@gmail.com> - 2011-04-12 16:15 -0700
      Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true Ethan Furman <ethan@stoneleaf.us> - 2011-04-12 16:48 -0700
        Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2011-04-13 00:03 +0000
          Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true Ethan Furman <ethan@stoneleaf.us> - 2011-04-12 19:42 -0700
          Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-04-13 13:00 +1000
          Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true James Mills <prologic@shortcircuit.net.au> - 2011-04-13 13:28 +1000
      Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true Teemu Likonen <tlikonen@iki.fi> - 2011-04-13 13:58 +0300
  Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-04-12 10:46 +1000
    Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true Gregory Ewing <greg.ewing@canterbury.ac.nz> - 2011-04-17 16:21 +1200
      Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-04-17 14:31 +1000
      Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2011-04-17 08:45 +0000
        Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-04-17 19:07 +1000
          Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2011-04-17 15:23 +0000
        Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true Gregory Ewing <greg.ewing@canterbury.ac.nz> - 2011-04-18 12:25 +1200
        Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true Dave Angel <davea@ieee.org> - 2011-04-17 22:04 -0400
        Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-04-18 12:10 +1000
          Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true Gregory Ewing <greg.ewing@canterbury.ac.nz> - 2011-04-19 12:35 +1200
            Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true Jussi Piitulainen <jpiitula@ling.helsinki.fi> - 2011-04-19 09:42 +0300
              Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-04-19 17:01 +1000
      Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true "D'Arcy J.M. Cain" <darcy@druid.net> - 2011-04-17 08:33 -0400
        Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2011-04-17 15:10 +0000
        Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true aahz@pythoncraft.com (Aahz) - 2011-04-18 09:11 -0700
      Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true Greg Ewing <greg.ewing@canterbury.ac.nz> - 2011-04-18 11:09 +1200
  Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-04-12 10:51 +1000
  Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2011-04-11 23:58 -0700
    Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true John Roth <johnroth1@gmail.com> - 2011-04-12 06:16 -0700
    Re: Feature suggestion -- return if true Mel <mwilson@the-wire.com> - 2011-04-12 11:12 -0400

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