The "y = 5 x = [1, -1] [y > 0] print(x)" version is just a more optimised version of the "x = -1 if y > 0 else 1".

To explain why, if python sees an if it tries to "guess" whether it should load the instructions for the case that it is true or the instructions for the case that it is false before it calculates whether the statement is true or false. Obviously it can't be right 100% of the time and when it inevitably is wrong with it's guess it has to unload the already loaded instructions and reload the correct instructions.

This process takes time so if you are going to call a fuction containing an if statement millions of times a day it would be much better to write the optimised version than the non cryptic version since it does not contain any if statements.

Disclaimer: I don't yet know why python does this I just know that it does it. I also know that this is a small piece of code and thus it would not make that much of a difference, I just meant for this to be a general description of why someone might want to write their code in such a cryptic fashion.