That is a reasonable use, Rob, albeit I would refactor that example in quite a
few ways so the need for a semicolon disappears even for lining things up.
So to extrapolate, perhaps a related example might be as simple as wanting to
initialialize multiple variables together might suffice as in:
if dow == 0: hours_worked = 8; overtime = False
Of course some monstrosities are now possible for such a scenario such as
if dow == 0: hours_worked, overtime = 8, False
Not that readable.
I repeat, there is nothing wrong with a language having a feature like a
semi-colon even if it is mainly syntactic sugar. Just wondering if it was
widely used or even essential. My thought was that python evolved when some
languages really needed a terminator but as it went another way, using
indentation and sometimes blank lines, ...
I am not sure what Dieter meant about seeing semicolons in .pth files. I expect
to see them in all kinds of files containing python code or anything created
with a structure that chooses to include it.
-----Original Message-----
From: Python-list <python-list-bounces+avi.e.gross=gmail....@python.org> On
Behalf Of Rob Cliffe via Python-list
Sent: Wednesday, February 22, 2023 9:11 PM
To: python-list@python.org
Subject: Re: semi colonic
On 23/02/2023 00:58, avi.e.gr...@gmail.com wrote:
> So can anyone point to places in Python where a semicolon is part of a
> best or even good way to do anything?
>
>
Yes. Take this bit of toy code which I just dreamed up. (Of course it is toy
code; don't bother telling me how it could be written better.) If it looks a
bit ragged, pretend it is in a fixed font.
if dow==0: day="Mon"; calcPay()
if dow==1: day="Tue"; calcPay()
if dow==2: day="Wed"; calcPay()
if dow==3: day="Thu"; calcPay()
if dow==4: day="Fri"; calcpay()
if dow==5: day="Sat"; calcPay(rate=1.5)
if dow==6: day="Sun"; calcPay(rate=2)
The point is: when you have several short bits of code with an identical or
similar pattern, *vertically aligning* the corresponding parts can IMO make it
much easier to read the code and easier to spot errors.
Compare this:
if dow==0:
day="Mon"
calcPay()
if dow==1:
day="Tue"
calcPay()
if dow==2:
day="Wed"
calcPay()
if dow==3:
day="Thu"
calcPay()
if dow==4:
day="Fri"
calcpay()
if dow==5:
day="Sat"
calcPay(rate=1.5)
if dow==6:
day="Sun"
calcPay(rate=2)
Not so easy to spot the mistake now, is it?
Not to mention the saving of vertical space.
Best wishes
Rob Cliffe
PS If you really care, I can send you a more complicated example of real code
from one of my programs which is HUGELY more readable when laid out in this way.
--
https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
--
https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
