Steve Howell <showell30@yahoo.com> wrote:
I don't mean to oversimplify this, which is why I'm batting it around on a forum with a lot of smart people. But clearly it could be done. Whether it *should* be done is, of course, a question for debate, and I accept this.
You are proposing to insert a mini-language into Python so as to make certain relational data processing tasks easier. As you say, your particular proposal is pretty much just an alias for lambda where you don't specify the 'row' argument, names are acquired from the passed dictionary, and maybe you get some free enclosing scope goodies. Honestly, without explicit stating of where data is coming from, either via row['column'] or row.column, and the explicit naming of the argument to be passed (as in lambda argument: expression), it smells far too magical for Python. Never mind the fact that you will tend to get better performance by not using a lambda/your hacked lambda, as the direct execution will have fewer function calls... That is... pred = lambda row: (convert_to_euros(row['salary']) > 50000 and row['deptno'] == 10) a = [f(i) for i in rows if pred(i)] will run slower than b = [f(i) for i in rows if convert_to_euros(row['salary']) > 50000 and row['depno'] == 10] While the former *may* be easier to read (depending on who you are), the latter will be faster in all cases. The only way for the pred() version to be faster is if your rowexpr: variant was actually a macro expansion, but we don't do macro expansions in Python, so it will be slower. So, what do we have? Possible minor clarity win (but certainly not over lambdas), small length reduction over lambdas, slower execution compared to inlining the code (equal to lambda), more syntax. Put me down for -1. - Josiah