Raymond Hettinger wrote: > [Shane Holloway] > >>I would agree generic clearing is a lark in terms of programming >>feature. However, I have been asked how to clear a list more than a >>handful of times. > > list.clear() does not solve the root problem. The question is > symptomatic of not understanding slicing. Avoidance of that knowledge > doesn't help the person at all. Slicing is part of Python 101 and is > basic to the language. There is a reason this subject is presented > right at the beginning of the tutorial.
I tend to not agree. I don't think it is symptomatic of "not understanding slicing", but instead of "not being in a slicing state of mind". What I see in day-to-day is that when programmers want to clear a list, they are sometimes in a situation where you have some persistent list that need to be cleared, so the first reflex is not to think about slicing. They end up in a situation where they only use slicing to clear the lists they use, when their problem has nothing to do with slicing IMHO. But I understand that would add yet another way to clear a list, while the function is necessary for sets and dictionaries. Regards, Nicolas _______________________________________________ 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
