About short-circuiting in Python
Today I learned that it’s possible to short-circuit boolean operations in Python.
Example:
| Operation | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| X or Y | If X is False, then Y, else X |
Y is executed only if X is False. Else, if X is True, X is the result. |
| X and Y | If X is False, then X, else Y |
Y is executed only if X is True. Else, if X is False, X is the result. |
I noticed this behavior while checking YOLOv8’s source code.
In a certain point, the program picks whatever variable is not None like this:
return {
"train": train_set,
"val": val_set or test_set,
"test": test_set or val_set,
"nc": nc,
"names": names,
}
Not sure why I never thought of it before, since short-circuiting works in most (if not all) languages.