[Python-Dev] iterzip()

[Guido van Rossum]

> I'm already working on a separate module for iterators galore
> (and will cross-check to Haskell to make sure I didn't miss anything).

+!

> I posted this one separately because zip() eats memory like crazy
> and because a Python generator version crawls like a snail.

Do you have use cases where the memory use matters?  I.e. where it
needs more memory than you have RAM?

> IMHO, This is a better way to loop over multiple sequences and
> has a chance at becoming the tool of choice.  I scanned all of my
> Python code and found that iterzip() was a better choice in every
> case except a matrix transpose coded as zip(*mat).

Did you time any of these?

> > In general I'm not keen on increasing the number of builtin functions
> > much.
> 
> Ditto.  Any chance of moving functions like map(), reduce(), and filter() 
> to a functional module; pow() and divmod() to the math module; or 
> input() to oblivion?

I wish.  Since they were there first, it's hard to get rid of them.
(If you're truly masochist, write a PEP and post it to c.l.py to find
out how hard. :-)

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)