Why I hate lambdas (Re: Do any of you recommend Python as a first programming language?)

[Aahz]

In article <a9idnYTzRISC63janZ2dnUVZ_jGdnZ2d at comcast.com>,
Jeff Schwab  <jeff at schwabcenter.com> wrote:
>
>Also, despite reassurances to the contrary, I still get the impression 
>that there is a strong anti-lambda sentiment among the Python "in" 
>crowd.  Is it just a question of the word "lambda," as opposed to 
>perceived cleaner syntax?

The problem with lambda is that too often it results in clutter (this is
a strictly made-up example off the top of my head for illustrative
purposes rather than any real code, but I've seen plenty of code similar
at various times):

    gui.create_window(origin=(123,456), background=gui.WHITE, 
        foreground=gui.BLACK, callback=lambda x: x*2)

That means I need to pause reading the create_window() arguments while I
figure out what the lambda means -- and often the lambda is more
complicated than that.  Moreover, because the lambda is unnamed, it's
missing a reading cue for its purpose.
-- 
Aahz (aahz at pythoncraft.com)           <*>         http://www.pythoncraft.com/

"It is easier to optimize correct code than to correct optimized code."
--Bill Harlan