[Python-Dev] List copy and clear (was Re: Inconsistent API for sets.Set and build-in set)

[Nicolas Fleury]

Raymond Hettinger wrote:
> [Shane Holloway]
> 
>>I would agree generic clearing is a lark in terms of programming
>>feature.  However, I have been asked how to clear a list more than a
>>handful of times. 
> 
> list.clear() does not solve the root problem.  The question is
> symptomatic of not understanding slicing.  Avoidance of that knowledge
> doesn't help the person at all.  Slicing is part of Python 101 and is
> basic to the language.  There is a reason this subject is presented
> right at the beginning of the tutorial.

I tend to not agree.  I don't think it is symptomatic of "not 
understanding slicing", but instead of "not being in a slicing state of 
mind".  What I see in day-to-day is that when programmers want to clear 
a list, they are sometimes in a situation where you have some persistent 
list that need to be cleared, so the first reflex is not to think about 
slicing.  They end up in a situation where they only use slicing to 
clear the lists they use, when their problem has nothing to do with 
slicing IMHO.

But I understand that would add yet another way to clear a list, while 
the function is necessary for sets and dictionaries.

Regards,
Nicolas