What makes you think that if something is 'more verbose' it is 'less pythonic'? I actually like the fact that python doesn't try condensing everything into one-liners and special symbols.
Agreed. Readability, not succinctness, is what's pythonic. Being succinct usually - but not always - improves readability.
I never really understood this need for being not verbose, but it does periodically come up on this list (and pretty much on every other programming list). Your fingers get tired? It takes too long to read an extra line? You are running out of space on your harddrive? It takes too long to transfer the source file over the network because of the extra line?
Honestly, why do some people set for themselves the goal of "let's have as few characters in a source file as possible"?
Paul Graham (generally a very sharp guy) summarizes most of the reasons in http://www.paulgraham.com/power.html.
Thanks, this answers my question why people think this way. Although I'm still totally convinced that guys like Paul Graham, or anybody else who believes in shorter code, are misguided.
I provide my attempt at a counterargument in http://www.mired.org/home/mwm/papers/readability.html.
Yep, I more-or-less agree with you. Cheers, Daniel -- Psss, psss, put it down! - http://www.cafepress.com/putitdown