Why aren't OrderedDicts comparable with < etc?

[Albert van der Horst]

In article <mailman.3457.1248158525.8015.python-list at python.org>,
Jack Diederich  <jackdied at gmail.com> wrote:
>On Mon, Jul 20, 2009 at 10:00 AM, Steven
>D'Aprano<steve at remove-this-cybersource.com.au> wrote:
>> On Mon, 20 Jul 2009 09:34:24 +0000, Sion Arrowsmith wrote:
>>
>>> Terry Reedy =A0<tjreedy at udel.edu> wrote:
>>>>Sion Arrowsmith wrote:
>>>>> Jack Diederich =A0<jackdied at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>> It isn't an OrderedDict thing, it is a comparison thing. =A0Two regul=
>ar
>>>>>> dicts also raise an error if you try to LT them.
>>>>> Python 2.5.2
>>>>>>>> d1 =3D dict((str(i), i) for i in range (10)) d2 =3D dict((str(i), i=
>)
>>>>>>>> for i in range (20)) d1 < d2
>>>>> True
>>>>Try reversing the definitions of d1 and d2. The dicts are probably being
>>>>compared by id (address), which is the 2.x CPython default.
>>>
>>> Like this?
>>>
>>>>>> d1 =3D dict((str(i), i) for i in range (20))
>>>>>> d2 =3D dict((str(i), i) for i in range (10))
>>>>>> d1 < d2
>>> False
>>>>>> id(d1) < id(d2)
>>> True
>>>
>>> I didn't know that comparison for anything other than equality defaulted
>>> to using id. That really is rather broken, and I'm glad 3.0 fixed it.
>>
>>
>> I don't think comparisons other than equality use id. That would be
>> rather insane. If anyone can demonstrate such comparisons in a built-in
>> or standard library class, I'd like to see it.
>>
>>
>> For the record, dicts have been comparable with < and > since at least
>> Python 1.5:
>>
>> $ python1.5
>> Python 1.5.2 (#1, Apr =A01 2009, 22:55:54) =A0[GCC 4.1.2 20070925 (Red Ha=
>t
>> 4.1.2-27)] on linux2
>> Copyright 1991-1995 Stichting Mathematisch Centrum, Amsterdam
>>>>>
>>>>> {1: 'a', 2: 'b'} < {2: 'b', 3: 'a'}
>> 1
>>
>>
>> Reading the docs:
>>
>> http://docs.python.org/library/stdtypes.html#comparisons
>> http://docs.python.org/library/stdtypes.html#mapping-types-dict
>>
>> I can only suggest that dicts compare in an arbitrary but consistent
>> fashion.
>
>I should have specified 3.x but since we were talking about
>OrderedDicts (only in 3.1) I didn't say it explicitly.   Earlier
>versions of python were very permissive with comparisons -- it was
>rare that any cmp() raised an error and the ultimate fallback was on
>the object's id.  This is one of the non-backwards compatible changes
>in 3k.  Now comparing two of the same thing that don't have an obvious
>ordering is an error.  Is a dict "greater than" if it has a larger
>size?  if its max key is larger?  what does "max key" mean when the
>keys aren't even comparable?.  Comparing things that aren't extremely
>similar is an error now also.

With regard to < and > you are right.
But I think there is a sensible == w.r.t. dict's.
It is to mean that for each key   dict1(key) == dict2(key)
(implying that their key set must be the same)

[I could have used that for one of the euler problems.
You have a 4 by 4 field containing a red or blue square.
That is naturally a mapping of (1,1) ..(4,4) tuples to one
of the objects `blue' `red'. After moving a square you
want to know whether this is a map you already have encountered.]

>
>-Jack


--
-- 
Albert van der Horst, UTRECHT,THE NETHERLANDS
Economic growth -- being exponential -- ultimately falters.
albert at spe&ar&c.xs4all.nl &=n http://home.hccnet.nl/a.w.m.van.der.horst