[Python-Dev] Proper tail recursion

[Andrew Koenig]

> > My dig was at the Schemers who would rather implement an array as a
> > linked list and then optimize tail-recursion in the hope of getting
> > some performance back -- in vain because they still can't get O(1)
> > indexing.

> In all fairness, a serious Schemer would probabliy use the builtin
> vector type for an array rather than cons cells.

People who insist on using linked lists when they want fast random-access
indexing are weird.  But my experience is that random-access indexing isn't
nearly as useful as people seem to think it is, and that many people use
arrays as pure sequences.  Not all the time, of course, but often.