[Tutor] Strengths & weaknesses of Python lists compared to "old school" arrays [Was "Fixed Vector Array"]

[Mark Lawrence]

On 05/03/2015 10:07, Alan Gauld wrote:
> On 04/03/15 19:10, boB Stepp wrote:
>> wanted to address an item in a 3-dimensional array, I would use
>> something like (x, y, z) whereas the Python list form amounts to
>> [x][y][z] .
>
> That's just a syntax thing, Python could have allowed single
> bracketing of index, Guido chose to follow his mantra of explicit
> is better than implicit. Many array based languages (including C)
> also require multiple explicit indices.
>

You could regard this a code smell in Python.  Perhaps the most repeated 
thing written here by beginners is something like:-

for i in range(len(this)):
     for j in range(len(that)):
         for k in range(len(other)):
             if mystruct[i][j][k] then:
                 ...

An experienced Pythonista's code would maybe be:-

for x in mystruct:
     for y in x:
         for z in y:
             if z:
                 ...

-- 
My fellow Pythonistas, ask not what our language can do for you, ask
what you can do for our language.

Mark Lawrence