Python is readable

[Arnaud Delobelle]

On 14 March 2012 23:34, Kiuhnm <kiuhnm03.4t.yahoo.it at mail.python.org> wrote:
> I've just started to read
>  The Quick Python Book (2nd ed.)
> The author claims that Python code is more readable than Perl code and
> provides this example:
>
> --- Perl ---
> sub pairwise_sum {
>    my($arg1, $arg2) = @_;
>    my(@result) = ();
>    @list1 = @$arg1;
>    @list2 = @$arg2;
>    for($i=0; $i < length(@list1); $i++) {
>        push(@result, $list1[$i] + $list2[$i]);
>    }
>    return(\@result);
> }
>
> --- Python ---
> def pairwise_sum(list1, list2):
>    result = []
>    for i in range(len(list1)):
>        result.append(list1[i] + list2[i])
>    return result
> --- ---
>
> It's quite clear that he knows little about Perl.
> Here's what I would've written:
>
> sub pairwise_sum {
>    my ($list1, $list2) = @_;
>    my @result;
>    push @result, $list1->[$_] + $list2->[$_] for (0..@$list1-1);
>    \@result;
> }
>
> Having said that, the Python code is still more readable, so there's no need
> to misrepresent Perl that way.
> Now I'm wondering whether the author will show me "good" or "bad" Python
> code throughout the book. Should I keep reading?

I don't know this book and there may be a pedagogical reason for the
implementation you quote, but pairwise_sum is probably better
implemented in Python 3.X as:

def pairwise_sum(list1, list2):
    return [x1 + x2 for x1, x2 in zip(list1, list2)]

Or in Python 2.X:

from itertools import izip

def pairwise_sum(list1, list2):
    return [x1 + x2 for x1, x2 in izip(list1, list2)]

Or even:

from operator import add

def pairwise_sum(list1, list2):
    return map(add, list1, list2)

-- 
Arnaud