possibly trivial newbie list/array question

[Tim Peters]

[Paul Rubin]
> Can you tell me the actual purpose of list comprehension?
>
>         [f(x) for x in a]

Maximal clarity in common cases.  See design docs for the Haskell language,
from which Python most directly borrowed this feature; Haskell in turn
adapted it from the SETL language; SETL in turn adapted the notation from
set theory; the name "comprehension" comes from the set-theoretic so-called
Axiom of Comprehension, more directly relevant to forms with an "if" clause.