Note: The attached image is a screenshot of page 31 of Dr. Charles Severance’s book, Python for Everybody: Exploring Data Using Python 3 (2024-01-01 Revision).

I thought = was a mathematical operator, not a logical operator; why does Python use

>= instead of >==, or <= instead of <==, or != instead of !==?

Thanks in advance for any clarification. I would have posted this in the help forums of FreeCodeCamp, but I wasn’t sure if this question was too…unspecified(?) for that domain.

Cheers!

  • _stranger_@lemmy.world
    24·
    11 hours ago

    It would be confusing and weird if “=” did different things depending on the context.

    = is the assignment operator

    == is the comparison operator.

    the others using = only is probably just to keep things short, and the fact that the context is a lot clearer with another character like < next to the =

    • rtxn@lemmy.worldEnglish
      8·
      11 hours ago

      Pascal uses = for comparison (and := for assignment), which confused the fuck out of me when I switched to C.

      • driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br
        4·
        10 hours ago

        Some people in mathematics use := to assign functions, like f(x) := x^2; then when evaluating the function you use f(2) = 4, because it can be ser as a “true” comparison

        • rtxn@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          10 hours ago

          I’ve never seen that, even in university, and it would be equally as confusing without explanation.

          • driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br
            1·
            10 hours ago

            I only remember two of my professors using it, and I has to ask the first one what that mean and explain to my classmates on the second one.