Python Forum

who is Barry? a developer?

Output:lt2a/forums /home/forums 4> python3
Python 3.6.9 (default, Jan 26 2021, 15:33:00) 
[GCC 8.4.0] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import __future__
>>> dir(__future__)
['CO_FUTURE_ABSOLUTE_IMPORT', 'CO_FUTURE_BARRY_AS_BDFL', 'CO_FUTURE_DIVISION', 'CO_FUTURE_GENERATOR_STOP', 'CO_FUTURE_PRINT_FUNCTION', 'CO_FUTURE_UNICODE_LITERALS', 'CO_FUTURE_WITH_STATEMENT', 'CO_GENERATOR_ALLOWED', 'CO_NESTED', '_Feature', '__all__', '__builtins__', '__cached__', '__doc__', '__file__', '__loader__', '__name__', '__package__', '__spec__', 'absolute_import', 'all_feature_names', 'barry_as_FLUFL', 'division', 'generator_stop', 'generators', 'nested_scopes', 'print_function', 'unicode_literals', 'with_statement']
>>>

Barry Warsaw

>>> from __future__ import barry_as_FLUFL
>>> 
>>> 1 != 2
  File "<stdin>", line 1
    1 != 2
       ^
SyntaxError: with Barry as BDFL, use '<>' instead of '!='
>>> 
>>> 1 <> 2
True
>>>

why is != bad?

Since the beginning of python, one could write != or <> for the "not equal" comparison operator. See for example the Python 2.4 comparison operators where <> is already marked as obsolescent. It disapeared somewhere along the way. Barry Warsaw is said to prefer <>.

i've always preferred != because it was IMHO clearer in meaning and made code somewhat easier to read. i recall this was an issue in a prior language i encountered but i cannot remember which language it was. it was not Fortran.

Barry was one of the early users of Python and he is still involved with Python.

You might want to look at PEP 0401 ( https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0401/ ).

i was reading PEP 8 just a while ago and noticed his name there.

i like PEP 401. i'm all for abandoning C and avoiding C++ and Objective-C for the base compiler and using just Python for everything. i'm waiting for PythOS.

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