[Chicago] List revolution

[Brian Herman]

http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-ideas/2011-September/011462.html

I think I'm doing okay. :-)

(And to those taking the thread seriously: this is all in jest. We
won't change the indexing base. The idea is so preposterous that the
only kind of response possible is to laugh with it.)

--Guido


On Sat, Sep 10, 2011 at 5:20 PM, Joshua Herman <zitterbewegung at gmail.com>wrote:

> When I first learned python I thought lists were linked lists having
> com e from a Lisp background. Although, what is probably most likely
> that python could do is introduce a LinkedList class and keep the name
> of Lists.
>
> The culture of Python has formed around list and the inertia of
> changing that name is extremely high but people would easily see the
> value of introducing a linked list class.
>
> As for the syntax that Tal proposes I think its interesting but it has
> the problem of breaking old code. Maybe in Python 4.x .
>
> ---Profile:---
> http://www.google.com/profiles/zitterbewegung
>
>
>
>
>
> On Sat, Sep 10, 2011 at 4:18 PM, Tal Liron <tal.liron at threecrickets.com>
> wrote:
> > All joking (?!) aside, Python lists are more like arrays/vectors in other
> > languages. It might make sense to introduce another basic type that's
> more
> > list-like, like a linked list (and change the name of Python's 'list' to
> > 'array'). A true list starts when it starts, and direct ordinal reference
> is
> > often discouraged in favor of traversal. For beginners, this would put
> them
> > on the right track for thinking in terms of dynamic data structures.
> >
> > Numbers are still applicable, but they are "counters" rather than
> confusing
> > zero-or-one-based "indexers". Something like this:
> >
> > x = list()
> > i = list.iterator()
> > i.forward(3)
> > i.insert('hi')
> >
> > It's clear what '3' means there. Of course, the Python Gods can decide to
> > add some syntactic sugar in the language for it, something like this:
> >
> > x = list()
> > i = list!
> > i forward 3
> > i! = 'hi'
> >
> > Compacted:
> >
> > (list! forward 3)! = 'hi'
> >
> > -Tal
> >
> > On 09/10/2011 10:03 AM, Tathagata Dasgupta wrote:
> >
> > What do guys think of list revolution?
> >
> > http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-ideas/2011-September/011448.html
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Chicago mailing list
> > Chicago at python.org
> > http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/chicago
> >
> >
> _______________________________________________
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> Chicago at python.org
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/chicago
>



-- 
Thanks,
Brian Herman

brianjherman.com
Research Assistant
University Of Illinois at Chicago
brianherman at acm.org
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