Formatted Output and Argument Parsing (was: Re: Flubbed it in the second interation through the string: range error... HOW?)

On 2024-05-29 at 17:14:51 +1000,
Chris Angelico via Python-list <python-list@python.org> wrote:

I wouldn't replace str.format() everywhere, nor would I replace
percent encoding everywhere - but in this case, I think Thomas is
correct. Not because it's 2024 (f-strings were brought in back in
2015, so they're hardly chronologically special), but because most of
this looks like debugging output that can take advantage of this
feature:
 
print(f"if block {name[index]=} {index=}")

defsnark:

    After years of getopt (and even more, if you include non-Python
    experience), I'm glad I decided to wait a decade before chugging the
    optparse koolaid.

(For the history-impaired, getopt existed long before Python and will
likely exist long after it, but getopt's "replacement" optparse lasted
only from 2003 until 2011.)

That said, I agree that the = thing makes f-strings eminently useful for
debugging, and I wholeheartedly agree with not fixing things that aren't
broken.