is somehow difficult to read? (arguable, this is an arctable and not a dictionary which is closer to an associated-list. If it were an associated-list you'd be able to do it as either:
(if (assoc "username" arc-alist) ... )
or
(if (alref arc-alist "username") ... )
I'd hardly call any of these difficult to understand; though perhaps assoc would make more sense if the list were the first parameter and the key the second like the alref works. i.e.
(assoc list key)
rather than:
(assoc key list)
Because at the minute alref and assoc are not conforming to the same standards, which make them rather awkward to use.
True, but the returns are more useful (assuming has_key returns T if it has the key. I am unfamiliar with python I'm afraid).
If the current syntax is difficult to memorize, you could always write a simple function which abstracts it away into something you're more familiar with:
