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Python f-string quiz (fstrings.wtf)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/python@programming.dev
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[–] 13 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I love the walrus operator:

if (x := some_function()):
    do_something(x)
else:
    # x is None or False or something, consider it invalid

The only thing I wish was different is adding a scope, which would make x invalid outside the block. But Python's scoping rules are too dumb to handle this case.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    I think my most common use case is with dictionary lookups.

    if (val := dct.get(key)) is not None:
    # do something with val

    I've also found some cases where the walrus is useful in something like a list comprehension. I suppose expanding on the above example, you you make one that looks up several keys in a dict and gives you their corresponding values where available.

    vals =  [val for key in (key1, key2, key3) if (val := dct.get(key)) is not None]
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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    In lots of functional languages, you'd have some_function() return an Option type and then you'd use .map() or similar on it to only do something when the value is defined. I think, that can be done in Python's syntax, but you need a library for the Option type...

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    Python has an "Optional" type, but it's merely an alias for T | None. I wish Python had better support for FP, but each time it gets close, it doesn't quite go far enough.

    For example, it now has match blocks, but there's no error if the match is exhaustive, which hurts formal proofs of correctness. Likewise, tons of other features fall a bit short, but in general it's workable with some discipline.

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