String Fomat Conversion

[Steven Bethard]

Stephen Thorne wrote:
> I did all I did in the name of clarity, considering the OP was on his
> first day with python. How I would actually write it would be:
> 
> inputfile = file('input','r')
> inputfile.readline()
> data = [map(float, line.split()) for line in inputfile]
> 
> Notice how you don't have to call iter() on it, you can treat it as an
> iterable to begin with.

Beware of mixing iterator methods and readline:

http://docs.python.org/lib/bltin-file-objects.html

next(  	)
     ...In order to make a for loop the most efficient way of looping 
over the lines of a file (a very common operation), the next() method 
uses a hidden read-ahead buffer. As a consequence of using a read-ahead 
buffer, combining next() with other file methods (like readline()) does 
not work right.

I haven't tested your code in particular, but this warning was enough to 
make me generally avoid mixing iter methods and other methods.

Steve