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From: Neil Cerutti <neilc@norwich.edu>
Subject: Re: A curious bit of code...
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 2014 19:17:29 +0000 (UTC)
Organization: Norwich University
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On 2014-02-13, forman.simon@gmail.com <forman.simon@gmail.com>
wrote:
> I ran across this and I thought there must be a better way of
> doing it, but then after further consideration I wasn't so
> sure.
>
>   if key[:1] + key[-1:] == '<>': ...
>
> Some possibilities that occurred to me:
>
>   if key.startswith('<') and key.endswith('>'): ...
>
> and:
>
>   if (key[:1], key[-1:]) == ('<', '>'): ...
>
>
> I haven't run these through a profiler yet, but it seems like
> the original might be the fastest after all?

I think the following would occur to someone first:

if key[0] == '<' and key[-1] == '>':
    ...

It is wrong to avoid the obvious. Needlessly ornate or clever
code will only irritate the person who has to read it later; most
likely yourself.

-- 
Neil Cerutti