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1 point by greatness 5948 days ago | link | parent

Are you suggesting:

  (if (arctable "username") ... )
is somehow difficult to read? (arguable, this is an arctable and not a dictionary which is closer to an associated-list. If it were an associated-list you'd be able to do it as either:

  (if (assoc "username" arc-alist) ... )
or

  (if (alref arc-alist "username") ... )
I'd hardly call any of these difficult to understand; though perhaps assoc would make more sense if the list were the first parameter and the key the second like the alref works. i.e.

  (assoc list key)
rather than:

  (assoc key list)
Because at the minute alref and assoc are not conforming to the same standards, which make them rather awkward to use.


1 point by ivankirigin 5948 days ago | link

I'm not suggesting anything about a language I don't know :)

But, the point about explicitness stands, as there is not something similar to "has_key" in the syntax in your examples.

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1 point by greatness 5947 days ago | link

True, but the returns are more useful (assuming has_key returns T if it has the key. I am unfamiliar with python I'm afraid).

If the current syntax is difficult to memorize, you could always write a simple function which abstracts it away into something you're more familiar with:

  (def haskey (ls key) (alref ls key))
Then you can use it:

  (if (haskey mylist "username") ... )

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