[Python-Dev] Retrieve an arbitrary element from a set without removing it

[James Y Knight]

On Oct 25, 2009, at 2:50 AM, Terry Reedy wrote:

> Alex Martelli wrote:
>> Next(s) would seem good...
>
> That does not work. It has to be next(iter(s)), and that has been  
> tried and eliminated because it is significantly slower.

But who cares about the speed of getting an arbitrary element from a  
set? How can it *possibly* be a problem in a real program?

If you want to optimize python, this operation is certainly not the  
right place to start...

James