its subjective, arguably a style using ternary operator is better because it is composable - it evaluates as an expression, as opposed to a series of statements

its subjective, arguably a style using ternary operator is better because it is composable - it evaluates as an expression, as opposed to a series of statements. it's something the lisp and functional programming people like - no implied dependency on order in which statements execute. i dunno if this is valid python but it demonstrates the idea doSomething( identify_vertebrate(animal) if animal.is_vertebrate() \ else identify_invertebrate(animal)) doSomething( if( is_vertebrate(animal) identify_vertebrate(animal) identify_invertebrate(animal))) (doSomething (if (is_vertebrate animal) (identify_vertebrate animal) (identify_invertebrate animal))) this is part of "referential transparency", and once you get past "OMG parens" you realize its a Good Thing. parens are caused by a style preferring composition of expressions over executing statements, not lisp.