On 2021-04-12 at 09:54:13 -0700,
Dan Stromberg <drsali...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mon, Apr 12, 2021 at 1:30 AM Steve Keller <keller.st...@gmx.de> wrote:
>
> > Just a short style question: When returning multiple return values, do
> > you use parenthesis?
> >
> > E.g. would you write
> >
> > def foo():
> > return 1, 2
> >
> > a, b = foo()
> >
> > or do you prefer
> >
> > def foo():
> > return (1, 2)
> >
> > (a, b) = foo()
> >
>
> I prefer the parens; it's too easy to miss a comma when reading. The
> parentheses make it more clear that you're looking at a tuple.
If I were to write it like this:
a,b = foo()
rather than like this:
a, b = foo()
then I might agree that the comma might be mistakable for a dot or even
"disappear" altogether. To the compiler, the extraneous space doesn't
matter, but to a human reader, it makes a huge difference.
That said, consider this function:
def f(*args):
whatever()
Do you prefer f(a, b) or f((a, b))?
Okay, so it's a trick question, but that's how I think about *returning*
multiple values, too: "a, b" is two values, but "(a, b)" is one value
that happens to be a tuple.
Lastly, with names like foo, a, and b, we might be misfocused. Does any
of this change with names like coordinate, account_number, or distance?
Do meaningful names help, or do they merely distract from the commas and
the parentheses?
(x_coord, y_coord) = locate_target(parameters)
likely_name, probability = best_match(parameters)
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