Different ways of using if and else?

Question

In this video Kenneth makes the clear screen function, in previous videos he did the same but he did it as:
def clear_screen():
if os.name == 'nt:
    os.system('cos')
else:
    os.system('clear')
But In this video Kenneth does it a completely different way and didn't explain it. He wrote it all in one line, all in one pair of brackets? Could someone please explain this way of doing it please? Thanks

Jason Anders · Accepted Answer

Hey Youssef,
I see that you're new to Treehouse, but I'm not sure of your coding experience. What Kenneth is using here isn't actually an if statement, even though it uses "if" and "else".  This is something that is taught a bit further on into the language, once you get to more Intermediate courses, so a complete explanation goes a bit beyond the Scope of this Post.  
In short, however, that line is called a Conditional Expression (https://docs.python.org/3/reference/expressions.html#conditional-expressions), sometimes referred to as a Ternary Operator by other languages. Have a look at the documentation, but also know that this will be covered in time.
Glad to see you are noticing differences in code and are eager to know more!! :thumbsup:  
Keep Coding! :) :dizzy:

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Youssef Moustahib

Youssef Moustahib

Different ways of using if and else?

1 Answer

Jason Anders

Jason Anders

Youssef Moustahib

Youssef Moustahib