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Short syntax for try/pass

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  Short syntax for try/pass Leonardo Giordani <giordani.leonardo@gmail.com> - 2014-10-14 16:08 +0200

#79096 — Short syntax for try/pass

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Hi all,

a lot of times the following pattern pops out in Python code:

try:
 somecode
except SomeException:
 pass

A very simple example could be if you want to process a list that may be
empty

def process_list(lst):
 try:
  lst[0] = lst[0] + 1
 except IndexError:
  pass

or in more complex cases in which however an exception just signals that
there is nothing to do there.

Converting the code to a non-EAFP version, for example

if len(lst) != 0:
 lst[0] = lst[0] + 1

is in my opinion generally against the Python nature, since it relies on a
specific check on the object, instead of trusting the object as being able
to either satisfy the request or raise an exception. That is, this solution
is non-polymorphic.

In such cases sometimes ABC may help, but generally speaking they it is not
always the case of being an instance of a given ABC or not. The problem
here is if the code raises an exception or not.

Would it be feasible to propose a short syntax like this?

pass SomeException:
  somecode

where the above example would become:

pass IndexError:
 lst[0] = lst[0] + 1

I could not find if such a syntax has been already discussed elsewhere, so
please let me know if this is the case.

Otherwise, what do you think about it?

Thank you

Leonardo



Leonardo Giordani
@tw_lgiordani <http://twitter.com/tw_lgiordani> - lgiordani.com
My profile on About.me <http://about.me/leonardo.giordani> - My GitHub page
<https://github.com/lgiordani>

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