On Sat, Jul 11, 2020 at 12:45 AM Steven D'Aprano
On Fri, Jul 10, 2020 at 02:50:17PM +1000, Chris Angelico wrote:
And immediately above that part, I said that I had made use of this, and had used it in Python by listifying the dict first. Okay, so I didn't actually dig up the code where I'd done this, but that's a use case. I have *actually done this*. In both languages.
I'm not calling you a liar, I'm just pointing out that saying "I have done this" is not a use-case. You must have had a reason for *why* you did it, beyond just "because I can!" (or in this case, "because I can't, so I used a list instead").
It's the *why* that's important.
Okay, fair enough. I don't remember exactly what it was, but basically I had a collection of things, identified by some sort of name, and wanted to pick one of the currently available ones. If I *just* had the things, I would have a list, and if I *just* had the names, I would also have a list, and either way, I can pick one at random. But having the dict means I have to go to the extra hassle to listify it. Unfortunately I don't have the code to hand, and it's a bit hard to search your hard drive for "a place where I wanted to call random.choice on a dict but didn't". :) ChrisA