Mel, 27.11.2009 18:47: > Steven D'Aprano wrote: >> On Fri, 27 Nov 2009 04:18:08 -0800, boblatest wrote: >>> Here's my question: Given a list of onknown length, I'd like to be able >>> to do the following: >>> >>> (a, b, c, d, e, f) = list >>> >>> If the list has fewer items than the tuple, I'd like the remaining tuple >>> elements to be set to "None". If the list is longer, I'd like the excess >>> elements to be ignored. > >> I'd call that a code-smell. If I saw that in code, I'd think long and >> hard about why it was there and if I could eliminate the names a...f and >> just work directly with the list. > > It's a common enough thing at the boundaries of your program, letting user > input in through the gates, as it were. Deeper in, I agree; that stuff > should have been dealt with at the gates.
But that may have a code smell on it, too. In most cases, when users provide excessive arguments that the program would ignore, that's best treated as an error. Stefan -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
