I think maybe some of the trouble here, particularly in teaching is the word "is" (in English, not the Python keyword).
As in: "A file object IS and iterator" and "A zip object IS an iterator" I know in OO parlance, "is a" can be used to designate subclassing (or an appropriate use for it) and it can be made a bit more generic to mean "has the interface of" -- which is how we are using it here. But in common language, there might be a bit of confusion: something is an iterator among other things vs something is PRIMARILY an iterator File objects are a good example: A file object provides all sorts of things, and iteration is only a small part of it. In fact, maybe due to my long history with working with pre-iterator file objects (python 1.5! -- yes, I am that old) I see them as fully featured objects that also happen to provide an iteration interface to line-oriented access to text files as a convenience -- calling them "an iterator" feels a bit odd. Whereas things like the zip iterator, and many of the things in itertools, do primarily (only) iteration -- calling them "an iterator" makes a huge amount of sense. Even more so for things like list_iter, that are generally hidden from the user, and exist only to provide iteration. In fact, that's why I think file objects may be one of the worst ways to introduce the iteration protocol to newbies. (though maybe because of the confusion, it's a good example of why it matters to understand the distinctions) Iterables, on the other hand, usually provide a bunch of functionally other than iterability -- and indeed, most are fully functional without the iterator protocol at all. (maybe with ugly code :-) ) -CHB On Fri, May 15, 2020 at 6:14 AM Steven D'Aprano <st...@pearwood.info> wrote: > On Fri, May 15, 2020 at 05:58:16AM -0400, Ricky Teachey wrote: > > > Perhaps use the iter function name as the generic? "itered". As opposed > to > > "iterated" or "iterated over". > > > > Example: > > > > "the statement below iterates over an iterator, itered from a sequence" > > Or just avoid the issue: > > "The statement below iterates over a sequence" > > which is perfectly valid and correct. > > If we do feel the need to drill down into pedantic technical details, > instead of making up ugly words that nobody will have any clue > whatsoever what the meaning is[1], we could use one of many existing > English words: > > built from > formed from > constructed from > made from > fabricated from > created from > put together from > > etc. And notice I avoided using terms which imply that the sequence > itself is transformed into an iterator, such as "converting into". > > > > > [1] "Iter" is an old term for a passage, in particular an anatomical > term for a passage in the brain, so "itered" would be the past tense of > a verb to turn something into a passage. > > > -- > Steven > _______________________________________________ > Python-ideas mailing list -- python-ideas@python.org > To unsubscribe send an email to python-ideas-le...@python.org > https://mail.python.org/mailman3/lists/python-ideas.python.org/ > Message archived at > https://mail.python.org/archives/list/python-ideas@python.org/message/CQM25AACCSW4AG3M6OG6DGTKCGHOVB4N/ > Code of Conduct: http://python.org/psf/codeofconduct/ > -- Christopher Barker, PhD Python Language Consulting - Teaching - Scientific Software Development - Desktop GUI and Web Development - wxPython, numpy, scipy, Cython
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