| Store | Cart

Extending Python Syntax with @

From: Peter Hansen <pet...@engcorp.com>
Thu, 11 Mar 2004 12:01:57 -0500
David MacQuigg wrote:

> 'yield' is a little closer to the intent, but again, to most new users> it probably means something more like 'give way' or 'acquiesce', the> opposite of 'resist'.  If you had never seen 'yield' used as it is now> in Python, and your first encounter with generator functions was when> you saw @return, would you not think "Ah yes, a modified return.", and> would that not be closer to reality than whatever you might associate> with the word 'yield'?

No!  The "give way" meaning is _much_ closer to what is going on than 
"modified return", in my way of looking at it.  Return winds up the call 
stack and just happens to include a result value.  Yield temporarily 
"gives way" but leaves the stack frame in place, available for 
resumption at a later time.  You could say that the result value is 
incidental, in the return case, while the permanent transfer of context 
is the key thing.  Just the opposite in the case of yield, and therefore 
much different from a "modified return".

This is all semantics, probably, but I don't believe you can make a 
strong case that yield is an ill-chosen name.

-Peter

Recent Messages in this Thread
David MacQuigg Mar 10, 2004 09:01 pm
Wayne Folta Mar 10, 2004 09:24 pm
Jarek Zgoda Mar 10, 2004 09:26 pm
Jeff Epler Mar 10, 2004 09:31 pm
Ivan Voras Mar 10, 2004 09:49 pm
Erik Max Francis Mar 11, 2004 01:08 am
John Roth Mar 10, 2004 09:50 pm
Ben Finney Mar 10, 2004 10:19 pm
John Roth Mar 10, 2004 11:15 pm
Josiah Carlson Mar 12, 2004 05:08 pm
Y2KYZFR1 Mar 12, 2004 05:49 am
Max M Mar 12, 2004 09:59 am
John Roth Mar 12, 2004 12:05 pm
Heather Coppersmith Mar 11, 2004 02:05 am
Edward K. Ream Mar 10, 2004 11:02 pm
David MacQuigg Mar 11, 2004 12:40 am
Cameron Laird Mar 11, 2004 01:28 am
David MacQuigg Mar 11, 2004 02:44 am
Pierre Rouleau Mar 11, 2004 03:13 am
Christopher Koppler Mar 11, 2004 09:00 am
Isaac To Mar 11, 2004 01:54 am
Pierre Rouleau Mar 11, 2004 02:59 am
Christopher Koppler Mar 11, 2004 08:50 am
Nick Vargish Mar 11, 2004 02:28 pm
Peter Hickman Mar 11, 2004 02:50 pm
Cameron Laird Mar 11, 2004 03:24 pm
Peter Hickman Mar 12, 2004 09:50 am
John Roth Mar 12, 2004 12:07 pm
Peter Hickman Mar 12, 2004 12:19 pm
David MacQuigg Mar 11, 2004 08:05 pm
Roger Binns Mar 11, 2004 01:08 am
DH Mar 11, 2004 01:37 am
Roger Binns Mar 11, 2004 04:06 am
Steve Lamb Mar 11, 2004 01:43 am
Gustavo Niemeyer Mar 11, 2004 03:12 am
Paul McGuire Mar 11, 2004 03:17 am
Peter Maas Mar 11, 2004 12:15 pm
David MacQuigg Mar 11, 2004 04:35 pm
Peter Hansen Mar 11, 2004 05:01 pm
David MacQuigg Mar 11, 2004 05:57 pm
Ixokai Mar 14, 2004 05:17 am
Peter Maas Mar 11, 2004 08:42 pm
David MacQuigg Mar 11, 2004 11:44 pm
Raymond Hettinger Mar 11, 2004 10:15 pm
Paul Rubin Mar 11, 2004 11:24 pm
wmwd...@sneakemail.com ) (Greg Ewing (using news.cis.dfn.de) Mar 12, 2004 03:12 am
Bas Mar 12, 2004 08:07 pm
Peter Hansen Mar 12, 2004 10:17 pm
Donn Cave Mar 12, 2004 10:57 pm
Cameron Laird Mar 11, 2004 12:55 pm
Kyler Laird Mar 11, 2004 02:09 pm
Richie Hindle Mar 11, 2004 02:41 pm
David MacQuigg Mar 11, 2004 02:49 pm
Kyler Laird Mar 11, 2004 06:09 pm
David M. Cooke Mar 11, 2004 09:26 pm
Kyler Laird Mar 12, 2004 12:01 am
Myles Mar 12, 2004 12:05 am
John Roth Mar 11, 2004 02:37 pm
David MacQuigg Mar 11, 2004 03:57 pm
John Roth Mar 11, 2004 04:17 pm
David MacQuigg Mar 11, 2004 05:41 pm
John Roth Mar 11, 2004 06:03 pm
David MacQuigg Mar 11, 2004 09:24 am
Cameron Laird Mar 11, 2004 05:13 am
David MacQuigg Mar 11, 2004 08:42 am
Cameron Laird Mar 11, 2004 03:35 pm
Cameron Laird Mar 12, 2004 01:19 am
wmwd...@sneakemail.com ) (Greg Ewing (using news.cis.dfn.de) Mar 12, 2004 03:11 am
Messages in this thread