New submission from Marco Buttu: The documentaion of sum():
Returns the sum of a sequence of numbers (NOT strings) plus the value of parameter 'start' (which defaults to 0). When the sequence is empty, returns start. A. According to the PEP-8 it should be: "Return the sum...", and "When the sequence is empty, return start.", like the other docs. For instance: >>> print(len.__doc__) len(object) -> integer Return the number of items of a sequence or mapping. B. When the second argument is a tuple or a list, you can add sequences of sequences: >>> sum([['a', 'b', 'c'], [4]], []) ['a', 'b', 'c', 4] >>> sum(((1, 2, 3), (1,)), (1,)) (1, 1, 2, 3, 1) C. sum() takes not just sequences: >>> sum({1: 'one', 2: 'two'}) 3 Maybe it is not a good idea to give a complete description of sum() in the docstring, but perhaps something "good enough". In any case, I think the lack of the PEP-8 recommendation should be fixed. ---------- assignee: docs@python components: Documentation messages: 192805 nosy: docs@python, marco.buttu priority: normal severity: normal status: open title: sum() does not return only the sum of a sequence of numbers + PEP8 reccomandation versions: Python 2.7, Python 3.1, Python 3.2, Python 3.3 _______________________________________ Python tracker <rep...@bugs.python.org> <http://bugs.python.org/issue18424> _______________________________________ _______________________________________________ Python-bugs-list mailing list Unsubscribe: http://mail.python.org/mailman/options/python-bugs-list/archive%40mail-archive.com