Initializing a list with copies

[Steve Holden]

"Alex Martelli" <aleax at aleax.it> wrote in message
news:mGNz8.36284$8D3.1054742 at news1.tin.it...
> Steve Holden wrote:
>         ...
> > So, while I thought the change had been made (because type(int) ==
> > type(type)) the documentation seemed to say otherwise. This is the kind
of
>
> Not so much the paragraph you quote, but the fact that the whole page
> is titled "functions", yes.  Fred Drake is doing a heroic job but he can't
> do it all on his own!  Why not offer context-diffs to the docs to help
> him out?  Maybe just changing the section title to "built-in functions
> and types" and inserting a small paragraph reminding the reader that
> int (and complex, dict, list, etc etc), while callable just like
functions,
> are in fact type objects so they may also be subclasses, used in
> isinstance, etc.
>
> > Types, of course, are callables, so it's reasonable to represent them as
> > functions, but it's interesting that the new types' constructors are so
> > explicitly polymorphic across the "sensible" arguments. The
documentation
> > is unchanged in the CVS tree.
>
> So help it change, if you think it can be enhanced reasonably easily.
>
> You are an excellent writer, clear and concise, with an uncanny ability
> to address the reader's typical concerns/doubts/misunderstandings.
Helping
> enhance Python's docs is just as important (some of us would say, MORE
> important, since most hackers much prefer writing code than docs:-) as
> helping enhance Python's interpreter and library code.
>

Thanks <blush>. The reason I'm currently lurking (mostly) on python-dev is
because I figure if I understand what's going into the language changes I
might be able to free up some of Fred's time. This would be a good place to
see if I can work through from the Tex source to some legible output and
provide Freed with the necessary context diffs.

regards
 Steve
--

Steve Holden: http://www.holdenweb.com/ ; Python Web Programming:
http://pydish.holdenweb.com/pwp/