Tino Wildenhain wrote:
Hi,
Luis Zarrabeitia wrote:
Quoting Laszlo Nagy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
...
Even better:
help(sum) shows
===
sum(...)
sum(sequence, start=0) -> value
Returns the sum of a sequence of numbers (NOT strings) plus
the value
of parameter 'start'. When the sequence is empty, returns start.
===
so the fact that sum([]) returns zero is just because the start value
is zero...
sum([],object()) would return an object().
BTW, the original code:
sum(s for s in ["a", "b"] if len(s) > 2)
wouldn't work anyway... it seems that sum doesn't like to sum strings:
sum(['a','b'],'')
<type 'exceptions.TypeError'>: sum() can't sum strings [use
''.join(seq) instead]
Yes which is a bit bad anyway. I don't think hard wiring it is such a
nice idea. You know, walks like a duck, smells like a duck...
If it makes sense to handle things differently for performance, then
please have it doing it silently, e.g. when it detects strings just
use join() internally.
Cheers
Tino
+1
''.join is horrible. And it adds insult to injury that S.join(S.split(T)) != T
as a rule. The interpreter has no business to patronize us into this shamefully
contorted neighborhood while it understands what we want.
Cheers, BB
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