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Re: checking if two things do not equal None

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On Sun, Mar 30, 2014 at 1:04 PM, Steven D'Aprano
<steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> wrote:
> On Sat, 29 Mar 2014 17:07:20 -0400, Roy Smith wrote:
>
>> I certainly agree that things like
>>
>>> if a is not b is not None: ...
>>
>> belong in an obfuscated coding contest.
>
> Apart from the fact that I got it wrong (that's what happens when I post
> at 6am after being up all night, thanks for the correction Lele), if you
> consider chained comparisons to be "obfuscated", I think you're not
> really fluent at Python. The OP even suggested  `a != None != b` so I
> think that (s)he at least understands chained comparisons.
>
> However, I agree with Johannes that inverted conditions (using "not") are
> sometimes harder to reason about than "regular" conditions.

Chained comparisons where you're checking a single variable against
two constants make perfect sense:

2 < x < 5

Chained comparisons where you check a single constant against two
variables don't, so much:

x < 2 < y

What exactly does that mean, and why is it written that way? We can
figure out how the interpreter will parse that, but does that
correspond to the programmer's intention?

It'd be more useful but less clear if one of the conditions points the
other way:

x < 2 > y

which checks that they're both less than two, but IMO in a less-than-clear way.

ChrisA

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checking if two things do not equal None contact.trigon@gmail.com - 2014-03-29 11:56 -0700
  Re: checking if two things do not equal None Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2014-03-29 19:05 +0000
    Re: checking if two things do not equal None contact.trigon@gmail.com - 2014-03-29 12:23 -0700
    Re: checking if two things do not equal None Lele Gaifax <lele@metapensiero.it> - 2014-03-29 20:24 +0100
    Re: checking if two things do not equal None Johannes Bauer <dfnsonfsduifb@gmx.de> - 2014-03-29 22:01 +0100
      Re: checking if two things do not equal None Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2014-03-29 17:07 -0400
        Re: checking if two things do not equal None Johannes Bauer <dfnsonfsduifb@gmx.de> - 2014-03-29 22:55 +0100
          Re: checking if two things do not equal None Johannes Bauer <dfnsonfsduifb@gmx.de> - 2014-03-29 23:02 +0100
        Re: checking if two things do not equal None Dave Angel <davea@davea.name> - 2014-03-29 18:01 -0400
          Re: checking if two things do not equal None contact.trigon@gmail.com - 2014-03-29 16:20 -0700
        Re: checking if two things do not equal None Tim Chase <python.list@tim.thechases.com> - 2014-03-29 17:36 -0500
          Re: checking if two things do not equal None Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2014-03-30 02:24 +0000
            Re: checking if two things do not equal None Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2014-03-29 22:43 -0400
              Re: checking if two things do not equal None Zachary Ware <zachary.ware+pylist@gmail.com> - 2014-03-29 22:04 -0500
        Re: checking if two things do not equal None Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2014-03-29 18:41 -0400
        Re: checking if two things do not equal None Tim Chase <tim@thechases.com> - 2014-03-29 17:46 -0500
          Re: checking if two things do not equal None Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2014-03-29 18:51 -0400
        Re: checking if two things do not equal None Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-03-30 10:17 +1100
        Re: checking if two things do not equal None Tim Chase <python.list@tim.thechases.com> - 2014-03-29 20:19 -0500
        Re: checking if two things do not equal None Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-03-30 12:37 +1100
        Re: checking if two things do not equal None Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2014-03-30 02:04 +0000
          Re: checking if two things do not equal None Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-03-30 13:15 +1100
            Re: checking if two things do not equal None Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2014-03-29 22:39 -0400
              Re: checking if two things do not equal None Rustom Mody <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2014-03-29 19:54 -0700
                Re: checking if two things do not equal None Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2014-03-30 06:08 +0000
                Re: checking if two things do not equal None Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2014-03-30 08:21 -0400
                Re: checking if two things do not equal None MRAB <python@mrabarnett.plus.com> - 2014-03-30 14:58 +0100
                Re: checking if two things do not equal None Gregory Ewing <greg.ewing@canterbury.ac.nz> - 2014-03-31 11:48 +1300
              Re: checking if two things do not equal None Gregory Ewing <greg.ewing@canterbury.ac.nz> - 2014-03-30 19:41 +1300
                Re: checking if two things do not equal None Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2014-03-30 10:37 +0300
            Re: checking if two things do not equal None Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2014-03-30 05:54 +0000
              Re: checking if two things do not equal None Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-03-30 17:17 +1100
              Re: checking if two things do not equal None Ben Finney <ben+python@benfinney.id.au> - 2014-03-30 17:52 +1100
              Re: checking if two things do not equal None Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-03-30 18:36 +1100
      Re: checking if two things do not equal None Ethan Furman <ethan@stoneleaf.us> - 2014-03-29 16:20 -0700
  Re: checking if two things do not equal None Terry Reedy <tjreedy@udel.edu> - 2014-03-29 19:02 -0400
  Re: checking if two things do not equal None Jeremy Sanders <jeremy@jeremysanders.net> - 2014-03-31 09:56 +0200
    Re: checking if two things do not equal None Abe <contact.trigon@gmail.com> - 2014-03-31 10:28 -0700
      Re: checking if two things do not equal None Moritz Emanuel Beber <moritz.beber@gmail.com> - 2014-03-31 21:22 +0200

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