The docs do make a distinction and generally follow the definitions given in the glossary for the tuturial.
In the case of iter(collection), I prefer the current wording because the target object need not support __iter__, it is sufficient to supply a sequential __getitem__ method. Raymond ----- Original Message ----- From: "Calvin Spealman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Python Mailing List" <python-dev@python.org> Sent: Wednesday, July 25, 2007 5:18 AM Subject: [Python-Dev] Terminology of "Iterable" and "Iterator" >I got into a discussion about this, which made me think it would make > sense to formalize a distinction between "iterable" and "iterator". To > nearly any python developer I talk with, we can define them as: > > iterable - An object which can be passed to the built-in iter() > function, which returns an iterator. > > iterator - An object with a .next() method, which is used to invoke > the iteration. An iterator _should_ also be an iterable, and will > nearly always return itself as its own iterator. > > Now, the current documentation makes no distinction, and we see this > in the docstring for iter(), which is curious: > > iter(collection) -> iterator > > This might indicate that it is using "collection" where I would say > "iterable". Also, the same docstring makes mention of something being > an iterator _or_ a sequence, so I also should bring up that it may be > antiquated, yes? > > -- > Read my blog! I depend on your acceptance of my opinion! I am interesting! > http://ironfroggy-code.blogspot.com/ > _______________________________________________ > Python-Dev mailing list > Python-Dev@python.org > http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-dev > Unsubscribe: > http://mail.python.org/mailman/options/python-dev/python%40rcn.com _______________________________________________ Python-Dev mailing list Python-Dev@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-dev Unsubscribe: http://mail.python.org/mailman/options/python-dev/archive%40mail-archive.com
