[Python-ideas] [Python-Dev] minmax() function returning (minimum, maximum) tuple of a sequence

[Georg Brandl]

Am 15.10.2010 20:09, schrieb Ron Adam:
>> I don't understand this function.  Why wouldn't you simply always call
>>
>>     return min(args, **kwds)
>>
>> ?
> 
> Because it would always interpret a list of values as a single item.
> 
> This function looks at args and if its a single value without an "__iter__" 
> method, it passes it to min as min([value], **kwds) instead of min(value, 
> **kwds).
> 
> Another way to do this would be to use a try-except...
> 
>      try:
>           return min(*args, **kwds)
>      except TypeError:
>           return min(args, **kwds)

And that's just gratuitous.  If you have the sequence of items to compare
already as an iterable, there is absolutely no need to unpack them using
*args.

Georg

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