* Chris Rebert:
On Mon, Jan 11, 2010 at 2:20 AM, Alf P. Steinbach <al...@start.no> wrote:
* Chris Rebert:
On Mon, Jan 11, 2010 at 1:03 AM, Alf P. Steinbach <al...@start.no> wrote:
* Steven D'Aprano:
On Mon, 11 Jan 2010 08:56:36 +0100, Alf P. Steinbach wrote:
* Paul Rudin:
Sebastian <sebastian.lan...@gmx.de> writes:
<snip>
Using the term "array" accentuates and clarifies this most important
aspect.
But Python lists are designed to behave as lists.
No, I'm sorry, they're not.
A Python 'list' has de facto constant time indexing, or "random access".
A linked list -- what the informal "list" means in programming
Eh, it's a bit context-dependent. The abstract data type definition is
a superset that includes both linked lists and dynamic arrays.
Assuming you're talking about some abstract type definition that's in some
PEP somewhere
No, I mean the computer science definition/term:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_(computer_science)
Note that the default meaning is a list with the characteristics of a linked
list.
The abstract data type specified in that article is a bit more restricted than
the usual meaning of list -- as the article notes, the ADT it presents is
equivalent to an abstract stack, and it's essentially the Lisp view of lists,
not only just linked list but a restricted view of linked lists. To understand
it you have to keep in mind that such an ADT is a simplification, for the
purpose of specifying logical functionality and nothing else. The algorithmic
efficiency is simply not specified, but is implied.
Unfortunately, as noted there, the article doesn't cite any references or
sources...
Here's one:
http://www.itl.nist.gov/div897/sqg/dads/HTML/list.html
FWIW, Java likewise uses "list" in its ADT sense.
I'm sorry, I'm unfamiliar with that Java terminology (but then, reportedly,
many Java programmers think that Java has "pass by reference", so nothing
coming from that direction will surprise me very much!). The Java language
specification has a section about arrays, none about lists AFAICS. Do you
have a reference?
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/docs/api/java/util/List.html
Thanks. I didn't know that. It's a very dirty hodgepodge interface with
*optional* methods that throw exceptions if not implemented and apparently no
constraints on algorithmic complexity for various methods. As such, it's a very
good example why 'list' should not be conflated with 'array'. It leads to such
monstrosities where neither correctness nor any kind of efficiency is guaranteed
:-)
Cheers, & thanks,
- Alf
PS: Please do not mail me copies of your replies to the group. A mail copy means
that I may have to answer your article twice, as in this case.
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