parameter undefined in procedure

[Tim Peters]

[David Smith]
> Which [Lisp hangover] is also the reason lambda is in Python, no?

[Moshe Zadka]
> Actually, Guido claims not to know Scheme or Lisp. It was added after
> much clamoring, and is occasionally useful, but much less then in
> Scheme.

Actually, lambda was added with no clamoring at all!  lambda, map, reduce
and filter were *all* contributed code (by the same non-Guido fellow), and
showed up in Python 1.0.0 (a bit over 6 years ago) without a word of public
discussion or debate preceding -- they were a total surprise.  I was
delighted at first, but have gotten sicker of them in each of the 73 months
that have passed since.

There's nothing wrong with the code that implemented them (to the contrary,
Amrit Prem did a great job); people simply won't let them remain the "minor
conveniences" they were intended to be.  Python hasn't been any fun at all
since they were added <wink>.

the-clamoring-began-after-they-showed-up-ly y'rs  - tim