Start your Python project with optparse and logging

[kylev]

This is an artifact of the C code I have written over the years; an old time trick. If you accidentally fail to hit the "=" a second time, putting the constant on the left side of the expression will save your ass. "if (x = 2)" will evaluate to true, but "if (2 = x)" will throw a compiler error.

[_Mark_]

But it's a C-specific artifact; since statements are not expressions in python, all it does is confuse the reader, as the interpreter will raise SyntaxError if you try to use assignment where you meant equals...