On 05/21/12 08:10, Steven D'Aprano wrote:
> On Mon, 21 May 2012 08:37:29 -0400, Roy Smith wrote:
>
> [...]
>> The above code works, but it occurs to me that I could use the much
>> shorter:
>>
>> def experience_text(self):
>> return dict(CHOICES).get("self.level", "???")
>>
>> So, the question is, purely as a matter of readability, which would you
>> find easier to understand when reading some new code?
>
> Definitely the dictionary lookup.
>
> Rather than convert list CHOICES to a dict every time, you might convert
> it to a dict *once*, then just write:
>
> return CHOICES.get(self.level, "???")
While I back Steven's suggestion, I'd keep *both* around. The
dictionary isn't inherently ordered, so presenting it to the user
may come out with a differing orders depending on how code gets hit.
So I'd do
CHOICES = [
("NONE", "No experience required"),
...
]
CHOICE_DICT = dict(CHOICES)
once at setup, and then use Steven's suggestion of
return CHOICES_DICT.get(self.level, "???")
then you get the best of both worlds: You can specify the order for
presentation using CHOICES, and get O(1) lookups and defaulting via
CHOICE_DICT.
-tkc
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