<div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div>A few things to clarify...</div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.8ex; border-left-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; padding-left: 1ex; ">
C has libraries for opening and reading directories. </blockquote><div><br></div><div>No, it doesn't. The C language standard doesn't define any standard way to work with directories. To access directories C programs have to use platform dependent code: In POSIX you must use opendir, readdir and company, and in Windows you must use FindFirstFile and company. </div>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.8ex; border-left-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; padding-left: 1ex; ">
Python does not.</blockquote></div><div><br></div><div>Yes, it does. All the methods mentioned above (os.listdir and glob.glob) are included in Python's standard library. </div><div> </div><div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.8ex; border-left-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; padding-left: 1ex; ">
Most languages just treat directories as a special sort of file, and just don't get all that worked up.</blockquote></div><div><br></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div>I don't understand why you are treating standard libraries as something not inherent with the language. All the directory access functionality in all the languages come from some kind of standard library or some code in the runtime. So the only difference between those "most languages" and Python would be whether they are "included" by default (or bound to the language syntax, which sounds like an worse option to me), or you have to elect for it. Doesn't look like a big difference to me.</div>
</div><div><br></div><div>--JongMan</div><div><br></div><div>2011/5/9 Clyde Forrester <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:clydeforrester@gmail.com">clydeforrester@gmail.com</a>></span></div><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
<div class="im">Martin Maney wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
On Mon, May 09, 2011 at 10:08:11PM -0500, Clyde Forrester wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
I'm making the tough mental shift from<br>
<br>
It's so trivially easy that everyone EXCEPT Python has the ability<br>
to open, read, and close a directory. What could be easier?<br>
<br>
to<br>
<br>
Just because you CAN do it that way, doesn't mean you SHOULD. Or,<br>
for that matter, that it's the most direct or simplest way.<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
Well, you CAN do it that way... in, say, Perl. In C, C++, Python, and<br>
a horde of other languages, it's not a hardwired feature of the<br>
language, but an external function. Modules (and Packages) are<br>
Python's way of managing external code. In fact, despite the different<br>
appearances, ALL these languages "pass the buck" to the OS in the end:<br>
they only differ in how they present the slot for receiving the buck. And a bazillion other things are like this...<br>
</blockquote></div>
I don't think that you understand my objection. </blockquote><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">I have no objection to modules, packages and libraries. </blockquote>
<div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;"><div class="im"><br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
Yeah, yeah. I'll get over it.<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
I hope you do, because Python very generally prefers to package things<br>
into modules rather than making them builtins or keywords or whatever. You don't half know what Python is if you haven't gotten to know the<br>
standard library. Not know it all by heart - I doubt anyone does. But<br>
knowing that it's there, and how to find out what's in there that you<br>
don't already know about is not important, it's essential.<br>
<br>
</blockquote></div>
Again, you've misread my intent. I've gotten used to extensive modules and libraries in languages like Java. That's not my complaint. That's not what I'm getting used to. </blockquote><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
With files, much of the time one just wants the whole thing also. But not always. If I'm doing a compare and it fails on the first block, then boom, I'm done, it failed, no need to go on. But with directories, there isn't a situation where I don't want to examine the whole thing. That was a big blindspot in my mind, and that's what I'm getting used to.<div>
<div></div><div class="h5"><br>
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