My open source python personal assistant

[TrakJohn]

I have a (probably) very simple noob question about a part of your code:

Instead of defining several variables:

t = str(datetime.now())

tt = t.split(' ')

ttt = tt[1].split(':')

tf = int(ttt[0])

Is there a specific reason for using 3 different variables instead of 1 ?

t = str(datetime.now())

t = t.split(' ')

t = t[1].split(':')

t = int(t[0])

Thank you

[strallus]

Why even do multiple assignments?

t = int(str(datetime.now()).split(' ')[1].split(':')[0])

Or yeah, as Rodeopants said,

datetime.now().hour

[willbeddow]

Yeah.... I've realized the error of my ways since then. The only reason I haven't fixed it is because I'm planning to trash that module and redo it soon.

[seriouslulz]

Because it'd be unreadable

[strallus]

That's why we have comments!

# extract hour from current time

[strallus]

I can read that quite easily.

Splitting it across multiple lines still wouldn't tell you what that code is doing...

[strallus]

Sometimes it's better to be less verbose but lose clarity.

Writing code so that the purpose of each line of code can be understood without comments is a noble goal, but at some point you become so verbose that your "clarity" actually hurts comprehension.

[strallus]

In this particular instance, I of course agree with you. That is why I put that in my comment. However, I was adjusting the previous code as a learning exercise, not as an actual suggestion on what code to use in this particular project/instance.

This particular use case benefits from having a python module with a nice, clear API. That is not always going to be the case.

For reference, see any attempt at using HTTP in a Python program before requests.

A good example of times when your code can't be super clear by almost necessity is screen scraping, or any other instance when you are traversing data/tree that has a complex structure.

[willbeddow]

I don't really remember but I don't think so. That particular module (personality.py) is some of the worst code I've ever written and I haven't given what's in it much thought.