[Python-Dev] list.shift()

[Guido van Rossum]

Ka-Ping Yee wrote:
> 
> Has list.shift() been proposed?
> 
>     # pretend lists are implemented in Python and 'self' is a list
>     def shift(self):
>         item = self[0]
>         del self[:1]
>         return item
> 
> This would make queues read nicely... use "append" and "pop" for
> a stack, "append" and "shift" for a queue.
> 
> (This is while on the thought-train of "making built-in types do
> more, rather than introducing more special types", as you'll see
> in my next message.)

You can do this using list.pop(0).  I don't think the name "shift" is very
intuitive (smells of sh and Perl :-).  Do we need a new function?

--Guido