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Comment Re:Write-only code. (Score 1) 757

... Python list comprehensions are not perfect and are useful only for the most common cases.

I'm sure that Guido weeps himself to sleep every night knowing that this feature is only useful for 90% of use cases and not 100% ;)

Sure they're not perfect, but as you say they work for most cases and when they don't they're easy to replace with your customised solution - perfect is the enemy of better, and list comprehensions definitely make Python "better" :)

Comment Re:Write-only code. (Score 1) 757

True, but you can generally get by with learning one way while learning, then expand options later. For a lot of Python IMO the complexity is very well-hidden from a beginner, and little things like the help() and dir() functions make life easier.

Couldn't live without IPython now though, I've been totally spoilt by auto-call, ? and ??, the history tools, the ed command, etc etc....

Comment Re:Write-only code. (Score 1) 757

After three days of watching them argue I finally resolved the issue by dropping a few convenience methods and replacing the class with a NamedTuple.

Ah, the namedtuple, love that type, makes small property bags simple and efficient, and yet you still go nuts and sub-class it if you really have to :) Can't remember what I did before it appeared - write a lot more classes, most likely.

*checks*

Looking at my user-site directory, apparently write my own Properties class - actually, three different classes for some reason, all slightly different and way more complicated than the namedtuple :)

My only niggle is the declaration syntax with the redundant type name

Point = namedtuple("Point", "x y")

which just looks ripe for danger lol.

Comment Re:Write-only code. (Score 1) 757

I think I know what you mean - once you get "under the hood" there really are ways to customise everything. Metaclasses, abstract base classes, descriptors, descriptors, context managers, types, properties... all on top of plain-old multiple inheritance ;) It does take some time and restraint to not go meta-overboard - if I feel myself doing it, I just remember (trying to) work with Zope, which takes this sort of thing to a ridiculous extreme.

All that stuff came way later though, for going from zero to code Python is pretty simple - you don't need all that stuff for 98% of use cases.

Comment Re:Write-only code. (Score 1) 757

That is something that would be a nifty construct. About the closest I can think of off the top of my head is using a nested generator expression

borbs = [b for b in (compute(orn) for orn in orns) if b > 12]

Which isn't too awkward IMO, it's pretty clear there's two stages: a map and then a filter, and it's more readable than e.g.

borbs = list(filter(lambda b: b > 12, map(compute, orns)))

Comment Re:Write-only code. (Score 1) 757

It depends :)

If compute() is a "heavy" function, then the plain loop is the best, although I'd probably use the

borbs = [b for b in map(compute, orns) if b > 12]

construction LoneTech posted earlier.

If it's a small function in a throwaway script then probably just

borbs = [compute(orn) for orn in orns if compute(orn) > 12]

as you posted.

How about something like

from itertools import dropwhile

def compute(l):
    for i in l:
        yield i * 2

borbs = list(dropwhile(lambda b: b <= 12, compute(orns)))

:D

Comment Re:Write-only code. (Score 1) 757

All of what you stated is convention, documentation and community-agreed definition of Pythonic.

My point was that it's not just the community of people using Python, but that it's also part of the community of people who design Python, and has been from the start. The latter feeds into the former, and then vice versa, and without both sides you end up with at best where JavaScript is today - intense focus on making code better, but every single avenue has multiple options and you end up with a bewildering array of choices.

Comment Re:Write-only code. (Score 4, Interesting) 757

It's both. Type import this from the interpreter, and you'll get this:

The Zen of Python, by Tim Peters

Beautiful is better than ugly.
Explicit is better than implicit.
Simple is better than complex.
Complex is better than complicated.
Flat is better than nested.
Sparse is better than dense.
Readability counts.
Special cases aren't special enough to break the rules.
Although practicality beats purity.
Errors should never pass silently.
Unless explicitly silenced.
In the face of ambiguity, refuse the temptation to guess.
There should be one-- and preferably only one --obvious way to do it.
Although that way may not be obvious at first unless you're Dutch.
Now is better than never.
Although never is often better than *right* now.
If the implementation is hard to explain, it's a bad idea.
If the implementation is easy to explain, it may be a good idea.
Namespaces are one honking great idea -- let's do more of those!

While it doesn't always manage it, if you read the discussions and PEPs relating to the language's design it's clear that the idea of a "Pythonic" way of doing things is one of the top considerations.

Comment Re:So basically (Score 1) 445

Why would you assume that it will go any differently in 2015 than it did in 2005, 2006 and 2011? The Republicans came out against this bill with accusations that it would help ISIS and risk another 9/11, and when the time for renewal is up in May (not January as I said), they will be in control of both houses and looking towards the primaries and the election after that - they're not going to let it expire

I don't see any chance that it won't be renewed. I'm sure there will be lots of drama, name-calling and stirring speeches, but in the end, little or no substantive changes to the act itself, and it will be 2020 before all this comes up again.

Comment Re:Where's the schema (DTD/XML Schema/Relax NG)? (Score 1) 125

But it's easier to parse HTML5 than it was any previous version of HTML, as there is now an actual specification which details the process exactly rather than relying on each browser's interpretation. It can't be that difficult given the number of working parsers and validators out there for HTML5.

Plus, HTML5 can already be written using XML syntax, aka XHTML5. And searching for xhtml5.xsd or xhtml5.rng gave me plenty of links to schemas for validating XML-syntax HTML5.

If you need to store validated documents, then you shouldn't be storing them in HTML format! Store them as XML documents with well-defined schemas (Relax NG of course!), and then use XSLT or possibly XQuery to turn them into HTML fragments for display.

Submission + - Survive (and Party) Like It's 1920! (survivorlibrary.com)

TheRealHocusLocus writes: The Survivor Library is gathering essential knowledge that would be necessary to jump-start modern civilization, should it fail past the point where a simple 'reboot' is not possible. Much of it (but not all) dates to the late 1800s and early 1900s: quaint, but we know these things work because they did work. Does modern civilization offer a real backup-pan? Not a priority. Wait for help. In 1978 James Burke said our modern world has become a trap, and whether it springs shut or not all true roads to survival lead to the plow. Could you make one, use one? Sure, even a steam engine to pull it. I rescued my copy of Henley's Formulas from a dumpster outside a library. This is happening all over. It makes my blood run cold.

Think of it Survivor Library as a trove of survival skills, a "100 year civilization checkpoint backup" that fits on a hard drive. If one individual from every family becomes a Librarian, gathering precious things with the means to read them, there may be many candles in the darkness. You might even ensure survival. Browse at will, but if acquisition is the goal, someone has kindly made a torrent snapshot as of 14-Oct-2014 available to all Ferengis. If the worst happens we'll just party like it's 1920. See you there.

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