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“I'm basically giving myself a permanent vacation from being BDFL”

(mail.python.org)
2024 points randlet | 1 comments | 12 Jul 18 15:22 UTC | HN request time: 0.234s | source
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AdmiralAsshat ◴[12 Jul 18 16:02 UTC] No.17515876[source]▶
What was the issue that was evidently so contentious that it made him wish to step down?
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Analemma_ ◴[12 Jul 18 16:09 UTC] No.17515959[source]▶
(a := b) rather than a = b

Naturally people went to the barricades for it, in a classic example of bikeshedding and Wadler's Law (programmers will fight to the death over trivial syntax disagreements and just shrug at profound changes to semantics and architecture)

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fwdpropaganda ◴[12 Jul 18 16:46 UTC] No.17516377[source]▶
Damn dude...

I'm sick and tired of writing stuff like

m = f( <...> )

if m:

    # do stuff with m
Trivial as it may be, I for one welcome this.
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1. nas ◴[12 Jul 18 18:45 UTC] No.17517466[source]▶
That's pretty much the main use of the new syntax. When you have a cascade of regexes, it is even better:

  if m := re.match(...):
     ...
  elif m := re.match(...):
     ...
The world is not coming to an end, as some detractors of the PEP might think. The new syntax is a win in a number of cases. Otherwise, you don't need to use it. The concern for abuse is way overblown. I could live without it (voted -1 on the idea originally) but now that it is in, think it is fine.