Questions about list-creation

[inhahe]

i should also mention that

a=[i for i in xrange(10)]

and

b=list(j for j in xrange(10))

isn't really just a difference of using [] vs. list()
the first case is a list comprehension, the second case is a generator
comprehension which is then converted to a list
(the bug only applies to list comprehensions, not generator comprehensions)

i.e. notice that you can do this
''.join(x for x in ['a','b','c'])
no list or [] involved - it's just a generator comprehension being
passed to a function.




On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 1:12 PM, inhahe <inhahe at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 12:22 PM, Manuel Graune <manuel.graune at koeln.de> wrote:
>>
>> Hello,
>>
>> in (most) python documentation the syntax "list()"
>> and "[]" is treated as being more or less the same
>> thing. For example "help([])" and "help(list())" point
>> to the same documentation. Since there are at least
>> two cases where this similarity is not the case, (see below)
>> can someone explain the reasoning behind this and point to
>> further / relevant documentation?
>> (To clarify: I am not complaining about this, just asking.)
>>
>>
>> 1.)
>>
>> when using local variables in list comprehensions, say
>>
>> a=[i for i in xrange(10)]
>>
>> the local variable is not destroyed afterwards:
>>
>> print "a",a
>> print "i",i
>>
>> using the similar code
>>
>> b=list(j for j in xrange(10))
>>
>> the local variable is destroyed after use:
>>
>> print "b",b
>> print "j",j
>>
>
> I could be wrong, but I think this was actually a bug that was fixed later.
>
>> and 2)
>>
>> a=list([])
>>
>> vs.
>>
>> b=[[]]
>>
>
> those don't return the same thing
> list([]) will create a shallow copy of [], which will of course be []
>
> i can't think of a place where you'd want to use list() instead of [],
> but sometimes you might want to use 'list', such as in a defaultdict,
> in which case it's being used as a factory
>
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Manuel Graune
>>
>> --
>> A hundred men did the rational thing. The sum of those rational choices was
>> called panic. Neal Stephenson -- System of the world
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>>
>