Having written some Python (along with a few dozen other languages over the years) I can see both sides.  The "elegant" argument is purely subjective and while it may be desirable for those who are the sole owners of the code they write, the added complexity to the meaning of each "line of code" can lead to misunderstandings (read incorrect bug fixes &amp; wasted time) in enterprise level code written, tested, and maintained by dozens of different devs over many years.  When it comes to writing code to safety critical standards such "chained" functionality (including assignments) is generally verboten.