Question

Given the following idioms:

1)

variable = value1 if condition   variable = value2

2)

variable = value2 if not condition   variable = value1

3)

if condition   variable = value2 else   variable = value1

4)

if not condition   variable = value1 else   variable = value2

Which do you prefer, and why?

We assume the most common execution path to be that of condition being false.

I tend to learn towards using 1), although I'm not exactly sure why I like it more.

Note: The following examples may be simpler—and thus possibly more readable—but not all languages provide such syntax, and they are not suitable for extending the variable assignment to include more than one statement in the future.

variable = condition ? value2 : value1 ... variable = value2 if condition else value1

Answer 1

In theory, I prefer #3 as it avoids having to assign a value to the variable twice. In the real world though I use any of the four above that would be more readable or would express more clearly my intention.