One of Python’s few mistakes was that it copied the C convention of using “=”
for assignment and “==” for equality comparison.
It should have copied the old convention from Algol-like languages (including
Pascal), where “:=” was assignment, so “=” could keep a meaning closer to its
mathematical usage.
For consider, the C usage isn’t even consistent. What is the “not equal”
operator? Is it the “not” operator concatenated with the “equal” operator? No
it’s not! It is “!” followed by “=” (assignment), of all things! This fits in
more with the following pattern:
A += B <=> A = A + B
A *= B <=> A = A * B
in other words
A != B
should be equivalent to
A = A ! B
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