Roger wrote:
> Hi Everyone,
>
> First I want to thank everyone that posts to this group. I read it
> daily and always learn something new even if I never feel like I have
> anything to contribute but my questions.
>
> When I define a method I always include a return statement out of
> habit even if I don't return anything explicitly:
>
> def something():
> # do something
> return
>
> Is this pythonic or excessive? Is this an unnecessary affectation
> that only adds clock ticks to my app and would I be better off
> removing "returns" where nothing is returned or is it common practice
> to have returns.
>
It's an unnecessary affectation, but I don't believe it adds any clock
ticks to your app, as the function has to return anyway. The dis module
shows you they both generate exactly the same code:
>>> from dis import dis
>>> def f1():
... print "hello"
...
>>> def f2():
... print "hello"
... return
...
>>> dis(f1)
2 0 LOAD_CONST 1 ('hello')
3 PRINT_ITEM
4 PRINT_NEWLINE
5 LOAD_CONST 0 (None)
8 RETURN_VALUE
>>> dis(f2)
2 0 LOAD_CONST 1 ('hello')
3 PRINT_ITEM
4 PRINT_NEWLINE
3 5 LOAD_CONST 0 (None)
8 RETURN_VALUE
>>>
> Even when I'm not explicitly returning something I like to add
> "return" because it's a good additional visual marker for me to see
> where a method definition ends especially in cases where I may use a
> nested method.
>
Well, I suppose at least you aren't writing "return None" ...
Normally a blank line or two suffices for me.
Take a look at PEP 8 for some discussion for Python coding style.
http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0008/
regards
Steve
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Holden Web LLC http://www.holdenweb.com/
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