[Python-Dev] cmp(x,x)

Raymond Hettinger python at rcn.com
Tue May 25 15:57:28 EDT 2004


Forgive me, but perhaps a Letterman style top ten list may be a better
way to summarize what I've heard so far.

Proposal:   Remove 8 lines of code discussed and approved by Raymond,
Tim, Guido, and Armin at PyCon.  Replicate those lines and push them
down in every object known to man.

Advantages:
10) Facilitating insane use cases
9) Increasing the size of code base
8) Avoiding that silly concept of code factoring
7) Reducing performance
6) Breaking foolish invariants like "[x]==[x] and x in [x]"
5) Tricking myself into thinking that some sort of consistency has been
achieved though some existing calls to Py_RichCompareBool() already have
their own identity checks slightly upstream of the call.
 . . .
And the number one reason for reverting good code is: 
    It feels so groovy to call something a hack!


Hopefully you find this funny and use it help get things back on course.
With so many contrarians the mailing list, it's nearly impossible to get
agreement on the simplest things.  It's amazing how much support there
is for something with no practical use cases.


Raymond




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