Python vs. Ruby

[John Roth]

"Peter Hansen" <peter at engcorp.com> wrote in message
news:3E137008.3586A4D8 at engcorp.com...
> Rob Renaud wrote:
> >
> > <lot snipped>
> > "John Roth" <johnroth at ameritech.net> wrote in message
> > > Whether append() returns a *new* object or not is irrelevant to
> > > my arguement. The fact that it returns None is the wart.
> > >
> > > John Roth
> >
> > It's consistant, not a wart from my perspective.  If an object is
> > modified, it is not returned.
> >
> > For every part of the (admittedly small) python library I know, that
> > is the case.  Returning None is a hint that the object is modified.

I wasn't aware that it was a consistent policy. That doesn't mean it
isn't, just that I wasn't aware of it if it is.

> > So then the question becomes, why don't append(), sort(), reverse()
> > return a new list and not modify the original?  Are mutable objects
> > themselves a wart on the langauge?
>
> I believe the response might be that, in at least the case of sort(),
> and probably reverse() as well, creation of a new list would require
> twice the memory, at least temporarily, which can be very undesirable.

That's what I've always heard. In the case of .sort() and .reverse() the
performance hit (other than for storage allocation) would be neglible,
but for
.append() it involves copying the entire list as well as allocating
storage.

John Roth
>
> -Peter