Question

I was checking a friend’s code, and this pattern showed up quite a bit whenever he wrote functions that returned a boolean value:

def multiple_of_three(n):
    if (n % 3) is 0:
       return True
    else:
       return False

I maintain that it’s simpler (and perhaps a bit faster) to write:

def multiple_of_three(n):
    return (n % 3) is 0

Am I correct that the second implementation is faster? Also, is it any less readable or somehow frowned upon?

Answer 1

I very much doubt there is a compiler or interpreter still out there where there is a significant speed difference – most will generate exactly the same code in both situations. But your “direct return” method is, in my opinion, clearer and more maintainable.