Verbose and flexible args and kwargs syntax

[Eelco]

> To answer that question: for the same reasons. The conversion is
> wasteful; allowing python to do the right thing based on a
> typeconstraint is not. Plus, it is less code, and more readable code;
> the only rule you have to learn is quite general, which is that :: is
> a type constraint annotation; no need to remember specifics, like
> 'unpacking always returns lists for some arbitrary reason'.

Oh my bad; actually, that should be:

'collecting the remainder of an unpacked iterable using * will always
yield a list. That is, unless the construct appears inside a function
definition; then somehow a tuple is always the right choice'