len()

[Tobiah]

Just out of curiosity, why was len() made to
be it's own function? I often find myself
typing things like my_list.len before I
catch myself.

Thanks,

Toby

[Gabriel Genellina]

http://www.python.org/doc/faq/general/#why-does-python-use-methods-for-some-functionality-e-g-list-index-but-functions-for-other-e-g-len-list

and

http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/782dcb8d62f28cdb/1480c3f3a1bf68bb#1480c3f3a1bf68bb
--
Gabriel Genellina

[Pat]

I'm surprised that no one responded to that question.

I keep making that mistake all the time myself.

[Andreas Waldenburger]

On Sat, 31 Jan 2009 13:27:02 -0500 Pat <P...@junk.net> wrote:

> Tobiah wrote:
> > Just out of curiosity, why was len() made to
> > be it's own function? I often find myself
> > typing things like my_list.len before I
> > catch myself.
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Toby
>
> I'm surprised that no one responded to that question.
>

Huh? Gabriel Genellina replied about 46 minutes after it was posted.
Might it be that your newsserver is a bit laggy?

regards
/W

--
My real email address is constructed by swapping the domain with the
recipient (local part).

[Pat]

Andreas Waldenburger wrote:
> On Sat, 31 Jan 2009 13:27:02 -0500 Pat <P...@junk.net> wrote:
>
>> Tobiah wrote:
>>> Just out of curiosity, why was len() made to
>>> be it's own function? I often find myself
>>> typing things like my_list.len before I
>>> catch myself.
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>>
>>> Toby
>> I'm surprised that no one responded to that question.
>>
> Huh? Gabriel Genellina replied about 46 minutes after it was posted.
> Might it be that your newsserver is a bit laggy?
>
> regards
> /W
>

Might be laggy. Who knows.

Why didn't you answer the len() question?

[Marco Mariani]

Pat wrote:

> Why didn't you answer the len() question?

It's a bit of a FAQ: len() cannot be a method of list objects because it
works on any sequence or iterable.

[Tino Wildenhain]

Thats only half of the truth :-)

len() can use some internal optimizations on certain objects
where sequences indeed have a len() method called __len__()

Regards
Tino

[Gabriel Genellina]

En Wed, 04 Feb 2009 12:38:04 -0200, Pat <P...@junk.net> escribió:
> Andreas Waldenburger wrote:
>> On Sat, 31 Jan 2009 13:27:02 -0500 Pat <P...@junk.net> wrote:
>>> Tobiah wrote:
>>>> Just out of curiosity, why was len() made to
>>>> be it's own function? I often find myself
>>>> typing things like my_list.len before I
>>>> catch myself.

>>> I'm surprised that no one responded to that question.

>>>
>> Huh? Gabriel Genellina replied about 46 minutes after it was posted.
>> Might it be that your newsserver is a bit laggy?
>

> Might be laggy. Who knows.
> Why didn't you answer the len() question?

Why should he? Why didn't you look for the answer yourself, after being
told that it existed? Why do you expect *us* to repeat ourselves again and
again? Don't be so lazy...

You can read all these posts using the mailing list
(pytho...@python.org), Usenet (comp.lang.python), Google Groups, and
many other mirrors. See this same thread in 3 different ways:

Google groups:
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/t/247ec641c289a326/

Gmane:
http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.comp.python.general/608346

Python.org:
http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2009-January/526500.html

and many others, like the "forum" look & feel provided by
www.velocityreviews.com

--
Gabriel Genellina

[Terry Reedy]

I didn't respond because it has been asked and answered before, so the
answer can be found in the google archives or even maybe the FAQ.

[Pat]

Gabriel Genellina wrote:
> En Wed, 04 Feb 2009 12:38:04 -0200, Pat <P...@junk.net> escribió:
>> Andreas Waldenburger wrote:
>>> On Sat, 31 Jan 2009 13:27:02 -0500 Pat <P...@junk.net> wrote:
>>>> Tobiah wrote:
>>>>> Just out of curiosity, why was len() made to
>>>>> be it's own function? I often find myself
>>>>> typing things like my_list.len before I
>>>>> catch myself.
>
>>>> I'm surprised that no one responded to that question.
>>>>
>>> Huh? Gabriel Genellina replied about 46 minutes after it was posted.
>>> Might it be that your newsserver is a bit laggy?
>>
>> Might be laggy. Who knows.
>> Why didn't you answer the len() question?
>
> Why should he? Why didn't you look for the answer yourself, after being
> told that it existed? Why do you expect *us* to repeat ourselves again
> and again? Don't be so lazy...
>

Why do *us* feel obligated to respond? Is there a gun pointed at your
heads forcing to giving a bellicose responses?

Who is this *us*? A secret society? An exclusive club?

New rule: If you don't like a question or a post, simply ignore it. We
don't enjoy your snarky repartee.

[Pat]

Yes, you did respond. Aren't you the one who wrote "Might be laggy"?

If you didn't feel like answering the question, why did you add an
utterly worthless post?

[Andreas Waldenburger]

No, I am. Pretty clear from the "From" header. ;)

> If you didn't feel like answering the question, why did you add an
> utterly worthless post?
>

There, there. Let's not get too excited, OK? I made an observation that
I felt might be beneficial to you (even if only marginally so). I did
not mean it as an insult. I'm sorry if it seemed that way.

[Steve Holden]

Right, well let's *all* calm down, and resolve not to bother making
posts that don't contribute something positive. It's not like this is a
low-bandwidth group, there's always plenty going on.

regards
Steve

who is still hoping that one day Xah Lee will post and *nobody* will
reply ...
--
Steve Holden +1 571 484 6266 +1 800 494 3119
Holden Web LLC http://www.holdenweb.com/