[nighthawk454]

I think it's even more safe/preferable to use non-mutable `None`s as a default and do:

``` def myfunc(x=None): x = x if x is not None else [] ... ```

[memco]

In some cases you can also do:

  x = x or []

Your method is best when you might get falsy values but if that’s not an issue the `or` method is handy.

[aunderscored]

I tend to dislike this method as it's unclear what or returns unless you already know that or behaves this way. x if x is not None else default is cleaner in my opinion