[Python-Dev] Recommend accepting PEP 312 -- Simple Implicit Lambda

[Donovan Baarda]

Nick Coghlan wrote:
> Donovan Baarda wrote:
> 
>>As I see it, a lambda is an anonymous function. An anonymous function is 
>>a function without a name.
> 
> 
> And here we see why I'm such a fan of the term 'deferred expression' 
> instead of 'anonymous function'.

But isn't a function just a deferred expression with a name :-)

As a person who started out writing assembler where every "function" I 
wrote was a macro that got expanded inline, the distiction is kinda 
blurry to me.

> Python's lambda expressions *are* the former, but they are 
> emphatically *not* the latter.

Isn't that because lambda's have the limitation of not allowing 
statements, only expressions? I know this limitation avoids side-effects 
and has significance in some formal (functional?) languages... but is 
that what Python is? In the Python I use, lambda's are always used where 
you are too lazy to define a function to do it's job.

To me, anonymous procedures/functions would be a superset of "deferred 
expressions", and if the one stone fits perfectly in the slingshot we 
have and can kill multiple birds... why hunt for another stone?

Oh yeah Raymond: on the "def defines some variable name"... are you 
joking? You forgot the smiley :-)

I don't get what the problem is with mixing statement and expression 
semantics... from a practial point of view, statements just offer a 
superset of expression functionality.

If there really is a serious practical reason why they must be limited 
to expressions, why not just raise an exception or something if the 
"anonymous function" is too complicated...

I did some fiddling and it seems lambda's can call methods and stuff 
that can have side effects, which kinda defeats what I thought was the 
point of "statements vs expressions"... I guess I just don't 
understand... maybe I'm just thick :-)

> Anyway, the AlternateLambdaSyntax Wiki page has a couple of relevant 
> entries under 'real closures'.

Where is that wiki BTW? I remember looking at it ages ago but can't find 
the link anymore.

--
Donovan Baarda