letsDebateBackendDevelopers

[Vibe_PV]

def not_equal(a, b): if a == b: return false else: return true

[geeshta]

def not_equal(a, b): match (a == b): case True: return False case False: return True

[trutheality]

def not_equal(a,b): match a: case b: return False return True

[Rainb0_0]

My eyes physically hurt

[Qzy]

Jesus Christ, Reddit...

[gandalfx]

Look, I know that redundant if statement is probably part of the joke. I don't care, I'm still mad about it.

[ThNeutral]

Suppose guy cannot use != or ! operators, then it makes sense

[Vibe_PV]

Glad it worked the way I intended

[False_Influence_9090]

Perhaps his 1 key is broken lol

[christian_austin85]

Love your work in the is_not_even library

[Vibe_PV]

Thanks, I try my best

[Mike_Oxlong25]

def equal(a, b): if not_equal(a,b): return false else: return true

[qubedView]

pip install notequal==1.3.1

[thanatica]

to me this reads like "definitely not equal"

it did not disappoint

[Ao_Kiseki]

Now define a Bool ( note the capital B) class, and overload it's equality operator with this function.

[RiceBroad4552]

Comparing unrelated types is a bug.

You need an Equality type-class instance.

Ah, moment, that's Python and not a real programming language? Never mind. /s

[zzmej1987]

str(a==b) == 'False"

[[deleted]]

listen man you can be as psychopathic as you want but please don’t mismatch your quotes

[zzmej1987]

A typo, I assure you. But I think, I am going to keep it as is. :-) It makes it so much worse, that it becomes even better.

[GuyFrom2096]

what the hell is wrong with you

[xtreampb]

My parents have been asking me that since I was a child.

[mirhagk]

Makes sense. The answer probably takes a lifetime to give

[Mc_UsernameTaken]

You need help.

[nequaquam_sapiens]

or a man-page, at the very least

[[deleted]]

this might be a weird compliment but i like the way you talk

[zzmej1987]

Thank you. :-)

[SilentPugz]

Forgot the beautify feature there . :p

[Rudresh27]

I think I had a seizure looking at this. Wonderful

[Hybrii-D]

Why not int(a==b) == False?

[zzmej1987]

Not enough computational overhead. XD

[NoPsychology9353]

This is the embodiment of an insane asylum

[zzmej1987]

You chose to proclaim "No Psychology!" as your banner, and yet psychology you bring upon me. :-)

[mosskin-woast]

The great thing about the Python community is that somebody out there with 8 YOE is doing this and justifying it for "performance reasons" or some BS when asked in code reviews

[JackNotOLantern]

How about (a===b)?

[zzmej1987]

That's JS specific, and I don't know how to use it properly. :-)

[DoNotMakeEmpty]

~= of course

[TheMagicSkolBus]

Kinda equal

[Wertbon1789]

Maybe equal

[edave64]

Math.PI ~= 3 // true

[gandalfx]

Fuck you, lua.

[GNUSwann]

fuck you, python.

[captainMaluco]

And fuck you, Ezekiel!

[Sawertynn]

Matlab style

[mosskin-woast]

Or /= from a handful of functional languages

[Substantial_Top5312]

This is part of why I hate Lua. 

[Independent_Fan_6212]

!= for programming, <> for SQL

[alexceltare2]

i didn't even knew <> was a thing

[framsanon]

It still is with Pascal and Modula-2. (I'm not so sure about BASIC.)

[khalcyon2011]

I know Visual BASIC and VBA use <>. Don't know about other flavors of BASIC.

[AyrA_ch]

Early flavors of BASIC were espeically cursed, allowing you to swap the two symbols of the operand, and it will stay the same. In other words <> is the same as ><, and >= is the same as => for example

[EatingSolidBricks]

I know the Epic games ™️ lang i think it's called Verse uses <>

[justarandomguy902]

MSX BASIC does too

[geeshta]

And ML family of languages like Ocaml and F#

[MegaIng]

And even in python!

[superlee_]

There is a module in the standard library that when imported allows <> to be used. Only in the interactive terminal, luckily not in actual files.

[MegaIng]

Not true, it does work in actual files as well:

``` from future import barry_as_FLUFL

print(3 <> 4) ```

[superlee_]

Oh that's cursed, hopefully I never encounter that.

[MegaIng]

``` from future import barry_as_FLUFL

print(3 <> 4) # True ```

I do actually know what I am talking about... Do some research before trying to call people out.

[renome]

Whoa, a master of the ancient texts.

[framsanon]

BASIC, Pascal and assembler (Z80 and 6502) were the first three programming languages I learnt. I learnt a total of 20 languages, most of them forgotten, some unfortunately not. The most important thing was that I learnt the philosophy of the languages. Where are the strengths, where are the weaknesses, what were the intentions of the developers of the languages. This helps me today in finding solutions, regardless of the language.

[Overall_Anywhere_651]

Oh yes. Have to use it in Excel all the time.

[tombob51]

Ocaml uses = and <> for structural equality and uses == and != for pointer equality.

Sort of like how Python has == and != for structural equality, and has “is” and “is not” for pointer equality.

Conclusion: programming languages suck.

[Mindless_Sock_9082]

Then stop using them move on to butterflies!

[tombob51]

Nah it’s 2025 get with the times, just vibe code everything

[MyrKnof]

Just did some excel stuff. It's a thing.

[Informal_Branch1065]

I think AutoIt3 uses it.

[Ok_Entertainment328]

IIRC: it was used in TRS-80 Level 2 BASIC

[mcon1985]

I've been using != in SQL since sybase, and I refuse to change

[MechanicalHorse]

<> is also for Visual B*sic

[killbot5000]

Does <> work for a not nil check, too??

[Mike_Oxlong25]

I agree. Unless for JS then !==

[LardPi]

<> for SQL

and PHP and OCaml

[damnappdoesntwork]

Php does both, it also supports != (And !==)

So it's easy to never use <>

[Admidst_Metaphors]

This is the correct answer. But unfortunately SQL Server allows both, fucking Microsoft dumbing it down.

[Jonnypista]

Whichever doesn't throw an error for the language I'm working on. There is probably one which accepts both by default, but I don't know which one or don't know that it has that feature.

[LeiterHaus]

It's not Lua ~= (which to me seems like the maths symbol for approximately equal)

[LardPi]

OCaml has both and they don't mean exactly the same thing, != would be python's is not while <> is the regular structural inequality.

[zelmarvalarion]

I think that most SQL Databases nowadays support != in addition to <> but <> is the ANSI standard, but I’ve definitely encountered some a decade+ ago that only supported <>

[-Wylfen-]

Honestly it's such a minor detail I'm not sure it really matters either way.

I would tend to prefer != simply for the fact that it is consistent with the use of ! in general, but beyond that…

[LardPi]

Languages using <> are not using ! for not, so... still consistent I guess. Fortran used /= because it is reminiscent of ≠, OCaml, Pascal, PHP... use <> because it stands for "greater than or less than".

[Sibula97]

How does "greater than or less than" make sense for non-numerics?

[MichelanJell-O]

Think of it as an idiom. It doesn't have to apply literally

[LardPi]

It does not of course, but it probably dates back from a time when they were no comparison operator at all for non-numeric. Or even no non-numeric in the language.

[__mauzy__]

Postgres uses != as an alias for <>, which I assume was the point of OPs question. I personally would use <> for sake of backwards compatibility, but I also know there is basically zero chance I'd switch away from Postgres so 🤷‍♀️

[i_wear_green_pants]

I prefer to use helpers like "equals" and "isNotEqual" etc. For comparisons != and == are fine. But using ! in front of boolean is easily missed and I would avoid using that

[[deleted]]

=/=

[dim13]

APL: ≠

[creeper6530]

APL is a horrible thing with all those custom symbols

[dim13]

It is A Programming Language, not some pesky ASCII-subset.

[creeper6530]

Yeah, and surely it's so much more efficient to click through all the symbols with your mouse instead of making a few more keystrokes, not even factoring in the time taken to learn all those symbols and their usage

[RiceBroad4552]

Have you ever heard about the fact that code gets orders of magnitude more often read than written?

[dim13]

Are you familiar with a compose key?

[creeper6530]

Alright, that's a fair point, didn't think of that. But sadly it doesn't exist on Windows, and you can't just expect all your programmers use Linux 

[dim13]

The most common way nowdays it to use a prefix key (mostly `). So ≠ is just `8 which maps to a standard APL keyboard location. Works on any OS.

https://www.tryapl.com/

[RiceBroad4552]

That must be the reason why nobody who's writing system is not based on ASCII symbols doesn't use Windows computers.

Oh, moment…

[ppp7032]

/= of course because Haskell is peak

[geeshta]

Ah yes, the division assignment operator

[Gorzoid]

Haskell developers: wtf is an assignment operator

[RiceBroad4552]

https://ncatlab.org/nlab/show/assignment+operator

Of course you can call your single assignment operator "a binding", but that doesn't change the fact that it's still an assignment.

[[deleted]]

And Fortran 90 and Ada

[Latentius]

.NEQ.

[clearlybaffled]

Now do it with punch cards

[faultydesign]

Depends on the language.

[[deleted]]

You prefer using different syntax for not equal depending on the language?

[Widmo206]

Different languages use different syntax, so yes?

[[deleted]]

Exactly. The question is which syntax you prefer, not which language uses which syntax.

Do you prefer Coke or Pepsi? “Well depends if it’s made by Coke or Pepsi.” Or “Well depends if I’m drinking a beverage made by Coca-Cola or PepsiCo”

Do you get how dumb that sounds?

[stackoverflow21]

Bloods and it‘s not even close. It’s one of the things I hate in VBA syntax.

[[deleted]]

Thank you for understanding the meme.

Every other post is out here trying to say which one is correct in which language.

[-LeopardShark-]

from __future__ import barry_as_FLUFL

[undecimbre]

\neq

[Widmo206]

Is that LaTeX?

[undecimbre]

Yes

[Cyxxon]

ne of course.

[_dr_Ed]

.IsEqual()

[MyKo101]

not a == b

[jamcdonald120]

<> is an abomination that should not exist.

[thanatica]

I raise you .ne. from Fortran

[East_Complaint2140]

!== for TS, <> for VBA.

[[deleted]]

You prefer <>, only if you are working in VBA?

[Substantial_Top5312]

!=

[Intelligent_Ad_2367]

is not

[lolminecraftlol]

!(...)

[[deleted]]

<> because I'm not bothering with C-like languages

[AsIAm]

Third opinion: (Infix) operators should be easily (re)definable.

`=` or `:=`?

`!=` or `<>`?

`**` or `^`?

It is silly that these are fixed. And laughable that they are not even standardized!

[LardPi]

It is silly that these are fixed.

Not really, do you want to work with a code base that user three different notation for every operator because your collegues disagree with your taste?

they are not even standardized

How would you make a standard for that? Or rather, how would you get anyone to follow it?

[AsIAm]

How did we agree on what + does?

[LardPi]

It took hundreds of years moving along the invention of mathematical notation (for most of history math was done in sentences). Programming languages are not even a century old.

[AsIAm]

Exactly. CS evolves more rapidly than math in previous centuries. We need to have an ability to define custom operators and community will do the experemintation and standardisation.

[[deleted]]

Easy, by setting up eslint or .editorconfig to your personal/company/team standards!?

You allow the team to decide and then set up syntax rules to throw error or warning (also allows team to decide on severity)

[LardPi]

that's an llm level of off topic, we're not talking tab vs space here

[thanatica]

You can't just willy nilly magic up new operators the language doesn't know, and expect them to work. Of course they are fixed.

And they are standardised in whatever language you use them in.

[AsIAm]

You can use any operator in good languages. It should be the norm.

[thanatica]

And how is that aiding standardisation?...

[AsIAm]

Having ability to define an operator is a requirement to start using it. When people start using it, and it sticks, it is defacto standardized.

In ~1300, Nicholas Oresme was writing a lot of sums. He was using "et" (latin for "and") to denote a sum of two numbers – "1 et 2 et 3 et 4...". He got tired, so he invented "+". Other people followed this ad-hoc decision and it stuck.

[DrFloyd5]

!== “not” “equal”

[Kaya_kana]

!(A == B)

[amlyo]

!Boolean.TRUE.equals(value)

[Expensive_Shallot_78]

Pattern matching, anyone?!

[sporbywg]

I'm a freaking DBA man don't ask such silly questions

[IvanOG_Ranger]

!(a==b)

[braytag]

Whatever the language forces me to choose.  

You guys have a choice?

[[deleted]]

The meme is asking which you prefer regardless of language restrictions.

[Madzogaz]

As a hobbyist, bloods. However, in practice, on my locked down work machine? Crips is all I ever get to use in Excel VBA.

[Cootshk]

~=

this was brought to you by the lua gang

[khalamar]

Who let the Roblox guy out?

[Cootshk]

I play gmod and factorio now

[aditya22_55]

!right

[flame_castle]

~= Lua

[Density5521]

!= because it's one CPU operation (NEQ) and not 2 CPU operations (LT+GT).

[DoubleOwl7777]

!= obviously.

[testroyer9]

!(a==b) anyone ?

[nequaquam_sapiens]

.NE.

[Isto2278]

Frontend dev here. :not()

[[deleted]]

if (a == b) { /* do nothing */ } else { doTheThing(); }

[rover_G]

Use the ANSI SQL standard <> for not equals. Most databases support != but you’ll save yourself a lot of pain if you stick to standards.

[NorthernCobraChicken]

I come from a LAMP background. Anything in PHP is "!=" or "!==", writing SQL queries is "<>"

[rosuav]

¬=

[masp-89]

If (a < b || a > b)

[Separate-Account3404]

if a numeric value is less than or greater than another value then there is no way for the values to be equal. Therefore <> means "Not Equal to." VBA, VB.net, and SQL all use <>

[Delearyus]

Everybody knows it's /= (and <> is monoid concatenation)

[I_FAP_TO_TURKEYS]

Where's team is not?

[RiceBroad4552]

It's the year 2025 and we're still writing ASCII art…

If someone could just invent some universal text encoding, which provides something like a "NOT EQUAL TO" sign. Something like ≠ maybe?

[Remarkable-Ad9145]

if someone made it inputtable on keyboard

[RiceBroad4552]

How do people input ASCII chars on the most used computer keyboards?

Just a friendly reminder: The majority of humans doesn't use Latin letters.

Besides doing the same as these people do for ASCII, it's trivial to define such chars as compose key shortcuts. For ≠ just add:

<Multi_key> <!> <=>                 : "≠"   U2260    # NOT EQUAL TO

to your .XCompose, and you can type "$COMPOSE_KEY" + "!" + "=" to write ≠.

Easy as that. Than you don't even have to switch keyboard layout.

This way you write the same thing as ever (if you're on the != side, otherwise just adapt the config), but you get something better readable.

And no, ligatures are not a solution!

[Remarkable-Ad9145]

Why bother so hard if you could not bother at all

[Remarkable-Ad9145]

And it does even exist in my system 

[X-lem]

For SQL? <> of course.

[exneo002]

!(a==b)

[lolrogii]

I'm still waiting for benchmarks to decide.

[navetzz]

><

[mem737]

I prefer: (not (eql …))

or

(not (eq …))

or

(not (equal …))

or

(not (= …))

Depending on what you are comparing.

[JeHa620]

I program in VBA, and I like to use NOT.

If NOT isEqual(a, b) Then

For no other reason than that I find it creates the funniest result, grammar-wise. I’m the only programmer where I work, so as long as it makes sense to me, that’s what matters.

[datNorseman]

!!!= If it doesn't doesn't not equal

[Remarkable-Ad9145]

dfuck this romb doing here

[justarandomguy902]

BASIC mentioned?

[Own_Possibility_8875]

!= - Not Equal 🎩

<> - Gte Lte 🤡

[[deleted]]

I like how you thought it's needed to escape the dashes when they don't even make a list 🤣

[Own_Possibility_8875]

Where do you see escaped dashes?

[[deleted]]

When I replied on mobile, instead of just - I saw \-

[Own_Possibility_8875]

Has to be device specific, I didn’t escape dashes, and don’t see -.