permuting several lists (was Re: [Python-Dev] zip() and list-comprehension with commas)

[Guido van Rossum]

> > My bid for a name: splice().
> 
> Wearing my English-usage-pedant hat, I must regretfully judge this
> inferior to weave().  The reason has to do with the spatial geometry
> implied by the verbs.  
> 
> You *splice* two ropes together end-to-end; the proper data-structure
> analogy is with concatenation, and indeed splice() in Perl is a sort
> of generalized slice'n'dicer for sequences.
> 
> On the other hand, you *weave* two threads together side by side to
> form a parallel bundle.  Much closer image.

Oops.  I see now that splice isn't the right thing.  But the first
meaning of weave that comes to me suggest a 2D interlacing of threads
that gives the wrong impression here (I know there are others but I'm
much less familiar with them).

I looked in a thesaurus and found a few potential alternatives:

twine
entwine
intertwine
interweave
interlace
interspeerse

If none of these appeal, I say let's use zip and end this impossibly
long thread.

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://dinsdale.python.org/~guido/)