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Groups > comp.lang.python > #17160

Re: boolean from a function

Date 2011-12-13 09:42 -0800
From Ethan Furman <ethan@stoneleaf.us>
Subject Re: boolean from a function
References <4EE77C25.1060600@gmail.com>
Newsgroups comp.lang.python
Message-ID <mailman.3611.1323801308.27778.python-list@python.org> (permalink)

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Andrea Crotti wrote:
> I'm not sure for how long I had this bug, and I could not understand the 
> problem.
> 
> I had a function which would return a boolean
> 
> def func_bool():
>     if x:
>         return True
>     else: return False
> 
> Now somewhere else I had
> 
> if func_bool:
>     # do something
> 
> I could not quite understand why it was always true, until I finally 
> noticed that the () were missing.
> Is there some tool to avoid these stupid mistakes? (pylint doesn't warn 
> me on that)
> I don't think I will ever (or almost) have to use a function as a 
> boolean, instead of its return value...

Heh, I do believe I've been bitten by that a couple times.

The only defense I'm aware of is good unit tests.

~Ethan~

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Re: boolean from a function Ethan Furman <ethan@stoneleaf.us> - 2011-12-13 09:42 -0800

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