[Python-Dev] Re: Single- vs. Multi-pass iterability

[Barry A. Warsaw]

>>>>> "GvR" == Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> writes:

    >> Container-like objects usually support protocol 1.  Iterators are
    >> currently required to support both protocols.  The semantics of
    >> iteration come only from protocol 2; protocol 1 is present to make
    >> iterators behave like sequences.  But the analogy is weak -- unlike
    >> ordinary sequences, iterators are "sequences" that are destroyed by
    >> the act of looking at their elements.

    GvR> (I could do without the last sentence, since this expresses a
    GvR> value judgement rather than fact -- not a good thing to have
    GvR> in a PEP's "specification" section.)

What about:

    "...sequences.  Note that the act of looking at an iterator's
    elements mutates the iterator."

-Barry