Social problems of Python doc [was Re: Python docs disappointing]

[Jon Harrop]

Xah Lee wrote:
> On Aug 12, 12:15 pm, Raymond Hettinger <pyt... at rcn.com> wrote:
>> * The reason for implementing the key= parameter had nothing to do
>> with limitations of Python's compiler.  Instead, it was inspired by
>> the
>> decorate-sort-undecorate pattern.
> 
> The decorate-sort-undecorate pattern is a compiler limitation, for
> most of today's langs. I'm not sure, but i think some of the fancy
> functional langs automatically detect such and optimize it away, to
> various degrees.

You mean people use that pattern as a fast alternative in languages where
user-defined functions are very slow, like Python and Mathematica?

-- 
Dr Jon D Harrop, Flying Frog Consultancy Ltd.
http://www.ffconsultancy.com/?u