[Python-Dev] python3k change to slicing
There is one thing I'd like to see changed in a future python. I always found it surprising, that x = [1,2,3,4,5] x[1:10] [2, 3, 4, 5] is not an error. This is perhaps the only case (but a fundamental one!) where an error is silently ignored. I really can't think of a good justification for it. If I really meant x[1:] I would have said so. ___ 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
Re: [Python-Dev] python3k change to slicing
[+python-3000; followups please remove python-dev] -1 While this may be theoretically preferable, I believe that in practice changing this would be a major pain for very little gain. I don't recall ever finding a bug related to this feature, and I believe it's occasionally useful. Here's something that would be much more cumbersome with your proposed change: suppose I have a string of unknown length and I want to get the first three characters, or less if it's not that long. Today I can write s[:3]. With your proposal I would have to write s[:min(3, len(s))]. --Guido On 4/19/07, Neal Becker [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: There is one thing I'd like to see changed in a future python. I always found it surprising, that x = [1,2,3,4,5] x[1:10] [2, 3, 4, 5] is not an error. This is perhaps the only case (but a fundamental one!) where an error is silently ignored. I really can't think of a good justification for it. If I really meant x[1:] I would have said so. ___ 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/guido%40python.org -- --Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/) ___ 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
Re: [Python-Dev] python3k change to slicing
Guido van Rossum [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: -1 Me too. While this may be theoretically preferable, I believe that in practice changing this would be a major pain for very little gain. I don't recall ever finding a bug related to this feature, and I believe it's occasionally useful. I find it quite frequently useful. Here's something that would be much more cumbersome with your proposed change: suppose I have a string of unknown length and I want to get the first three characters, or less if it's not that long. Today I can write s[:3]. With your proposal I would have to write s[:min(3, len(s))]. ... and that's exactly the sort of situation I find it useful ;-) I certainly think it's easier to check that your result is the length you wanted on the occasions you need to, than it would be to make the replacement you show above everywhere else. ___ 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
