curly-brace-aphobic?

[Grant Griffin]

Hi Gang,

I'm sure this has been asked a thousand times, but I haven't seen it
asked lately (or ever <wink>).

Why does Python use square braces ([]) instead of curly braces ({}) when
accessing dictionaries?

This strange inconsistency in Python seems strangely inconsistent with
its otherwise very consistent application of consistency: since we use
curly braces to _create_ dictionaries, why not use them to _access_
dictionaries?  (Or better yet, if the underlying design principle is to
access things using a different syntax than what we used to create them,
why not use curly braces to access lists?  <wink>)

Anyway, although curly braces are perhaps slightly harder to type than
square braces, this is one example (maybe the only one) where I find
Perl code more readable: I appreciate the mnemonic effect curly braces
have in reminding me that the thing being accessed is a dictionary*.

or-is-python-just-"curly-brace-aphobic?-{wink}-ly y'rs,

=g2
* perl_terminology = { 'dictionary': 'hash' }

-------------

Addendum:  Now that I've written all that, I just had a flash.  Is it so
that dictionary code can be sortta polymorphic wrt list code?

doesn't-sound-like-a-very-good-reason-to-me...-ly y'rs,

=g3
-- 
_____________________________________________________________________

Grant R. Griffin                                       g2 at dspguru.com
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