[pxc]

That's because that issue of the webcomic is like 15 years old. It was true of the version of Python which was current at the time:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6182964/why-is-parenthes...

[gary_0]

Yes, I know. But some people still have the reflex from Python 2 and feel bitter when the error message says "I know what you want, and I'm not giving it to you."