[Python-Dev] copy, len and the like as 'object' methods?

[Paul Prescod]

Guido van Rossum wrote:
> 
>...
>
> AFAICT, the len() method proposal is just an attempt to be more OO,
> and to avoid being made fun of by a bunch of Perlers.  I don't care
> about #1, and it's naive to think that solving one issue will avoid
> #2.

OO is merely accidental. The real goal is to be more consistent. Python
is a language that uses methods for polymorphism so consistency pushes
towards methods. If Python were Scheme and had an OO appendage in the
middle of its standard library I'd dislike that too. 

The only reason Perlers come into the picture is because they are
pointing out that we claim to be consistent but in this case are not.
And the only reason any of us care about consistency is because
inconsistency has a cost in education and memorization...and according
to Greg Wilson he's seen it first-hand in this case. (I personally had
more experience with confusion over string functions instead of string
methods)

> Any change like this has a *huge* cost to the community (just reread
> the division thread).

Division is a special case. There is a big difference between
re-purposing existing syntax and adding new methods to existing objects.

If one is clearly the "new, better" way and the other is historical,
then the books document the new way and most users eventually forget
that the old way even exists. e.g. string exceptions, string.functions,
UserDict (after type-class), regex, etc.
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