On Tue, May 20, 2014 at 1:25 AM, Ian D <dux...@hotmail.com> wrote: > I was reading a tutorial that had these examples in it: > > >>>> while False: > print("False is the new True.") > > >>>> while 6: > print("Which numbers are True?") > > > while -1: > print("Which numbers are True?") > > > while 0: > print("Which numbers are True?") > > Unfortunately the author never explained these statements.
The statements above are trying to talk about what Python considers to be "true". In some languages, there is a single distinguished true value. Python chooses a broader definition that allows everything to be considered true, with the exception of the following values: False None Numeric zero Empty collection Empty string Reference: https://docs.python.org/3/reference/expressions.html#booleans We care about what values are true, because they are the switch that controls which way we're flowing through a conditional statement like "if" or "while". As people are pointing out, the examples above are a bit disappointing. They are demonstrating this with infinite while loops, and that's probably not a great idea because the output will be so overwhelming to be actively distracting. _______________________________________________ Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org To unsubscribe or change subscription options: https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor