[Tutor] Why next vs. __next__ ?

[Kent Johnson]

python at bdurham.com wrote:
> Is there a reason why generators have a special method named "next" vs.
> "__next__"?
> 
> All other Python's special names have the double underscore
> prefix/suffix.
> http://docs.python.org/ref/specialnames.html

It's actually considered a mistake.

The original rationale is spelled out in PEP 234 - see the Resolved 
Issues section:
http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0234/

It is being renamed to __next__() in Python 3.0 and there will be a 
builtin next() method that calls it. Instead of iterator.next() you will 
call next(iterator).
http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-3114/

Kent