len() should always return something

[Peter Otten]

Dr. Phillip M. Feldman wrote:

> Some aspects of the Python design are remarkably clever, while others
> leave me perplexed. Here's an example of the latter: Why does len() give
> an error when applied to an int or float? len() should always return
> something; in particular, when applied to a scalar, it should return a
> value of 1. Of course, I can define my own function like this:
> 
> def mylen(x):
>    if isinstance(x,int) or isinstance(x,float): return 1
>    return len(x)
> 
> But, this shouldn't be necessary.

Python should not blur the distinction between vectors an scalars like that. 
Instead of trying to be clever you should pass a vector with a single item 
and send mylen() to /dev/null.

On a general note, I think one of Python's strengths is that it consistently 
/avoids/ this kind of cleverness.

A prominent example is the handling of "1" + 1.

Peter