I wonder if the contoversy is even actually about assignment. There are people who will happily write something like:<br><br>if something_that_reports_success():<br>  report_success()<br><br>and there are peoplo who, correctly, would write that as<br><br>success = something_that_reports_success():<br>if success:<br>  report_success()<br><br>It's not about assignments really; it is about whether it is legitimate to <i>do</i> things in a test.