Question

Given the following Python function (ignoring its shortcomings):

def adjust_year(year):
  return year > 2000 and year - 2000 or year - 1900

If I change it to instead be:

def adjust_year(year):
  return year - 2000 if year > 2000 else year - 1900

Will the behavior be equivalent or have I changed it in some subtle way?

Answer 1

They are indeed equivalent, but the conditional expression variation is preferred.

Your expression narrowly avoids the typical and ... or pitfall where the middle expression evaluates to a falsy value (year >= 2000 and year - 2000 or year - 1900 and year = 2000 will result in 100).