[Python-Dev] Bare except clauses in PEP 348

Wed Aug 24 18:38:17 CEST 2005

Niko Matsakis wrote:
> Couldn't you just do:
>> txn = new_transaction ()
> try:
> complete = 0
> txn.begin ()
> rtn = do_work ()
> complete = 1
> finally:
> if not complete: txn.abort ()
> else: txn.commit ()
>> and then not need new builtins or anything fancy?

I personally dislike recording the execution path in
local variables. This is like setting a flag in a loop
before the break, and testing the flag afterwards.
You can do this, but the else: clause of the loop is
just more readable.
This specific fragment has also the bug that a
KeyboardInterrupt before the assignment to complete
will cause a NameError/UnboundLocalError; this
can easily be fixed by moving the assignment before
the try block.
Regards,
Martin