[Python-ideas] Make map() better

[Jason H]

I'm going to respond to a few replies with this one. 

> > Because join apply on a string, and strings are defined by the str class,
> > not by a specific protocol (unlike iterables).
> 
> Join actually used to only be available as a function (string.join in
> Python 2.x). However, nobody could ever remember whether the parameter
> order was "join this series of strings with this separator" or "use
> this separator to join this series of strings" - it didn't have the
> same kind of natural ordering that map and filter did thanks to the
> old "apply" builtin ("apply this function to these arguments" - while
> the apply builtin itself is no longer around, the "callable(*args,
> **kwds)" ordering that corresponds to the map() and filter() argument
> ordering lives on).
> 
> This meant that when string.join became a builtin interface, it became
> a string method since:
> 
> 1. Strings are one of the few Python APIs that *aren't* protocol
> centric - they're so heavily intertwined with the interpreter
> implementation, that most folks don't even try to emulate or even
> subclass them*.
> 2. As a string method, it's obvious what the right order has to be
> (separator first, since it's the separator that has the method)

Your second point is aligned with my initial point. Providing it as a class method further removes the ambiguity of what the right order is because of there is only one parameter: the function.

As for the comment about Python being better designed, I never implied it wasn't. Python is my favorite. However as someone who uses multiple languages, and JS has risen in popularity, and it's not going anywhere, I seek a more peaceful co-existence with this language - a language that was designed in 10 days in 1995. In a covert way, by embracing some of the not-too-terrible syntax you make it easier for JS programmers to feel at home in Python, and adopt it. I see this only has promoting a peaceful coexistence. 

Another pain point is python uses [].append() and JS uses [].join() Having a wrapper for append would be helpful.

And for that matter, why isn't append/extend a global? I can add things to lots of different collections. lists, sets, strings...