Hi, Skip Montanaro:
mal> BTW, I don't see the tradeoff in saving 11k worth of diskspace for mal> string.py compared to the good vibes we lose in the Python world mal> for this.
It has nothing to do with 11k worth of disk space and everything to do with "there's one (best) way to do it".
In some situations application of zen-rule number 8 (this is "* Although practicality beats purity.") is stronger than zen-rule number 12 (this is "* There should be one-- and preferably only one --obvious way to do it."), which you cited somewhat sloppy above. In my opponion the string module is one such situation and another one is the '<>' operator. Most of my employees work with Modula-2 a lot and we have a huge code base. So they prefer to use '<>' over '!=' in Python also and they will not stop to do so, although the use of '<>' is discouraged in the Python documentation. Regards, Peter -- Peter Funk, Oldenburger Str.86, D-27777 Ganderkesee, Germany, Fax:+49 4222950260 office: +49 421 20419-0 (ArtCom GmbH, Grazer Str.8, D-28359 Bremen, Germany)