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

[Florian Weimer]

* 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?

Hmm, perhaps when using sets as work queues?