[Python-ideas] A simple proposal concerning lambda

[Jonathan Fine]

Hi Abe

Summary: You've done good work here. I've skim read the 2006
discussion you found.

You wrote:

> I'm trying to dig up past threads about alternatives to lambda because I
> would be astonished if "def" hadn't been considered and rejected for some
> reason. What I've found so far is this unreassuring  post from Guido back in
> 2006

> [Python-Dev] Let's just *keep* lambda
> https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-February/060415.html

This is an excellent piece of work. I'm most grateful. Here's what Guido said:

> After so many attempts to come up with an alternative for lambda,
> perhaps we should admit defeat. I've not had the time to follow the
> most recent rounds, but I propose that we keep lambda, so as to stop
> wasting everybody's talent and time on an impossible quest.

I've quickly read through the posts that followed Guido's message,
picked out the ones that interest me. Here's a list.

> https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-February/060487.html
> https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-February/060474.html
> https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-February/060471.html
> https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-February/060445.html
> https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-February/060435.html
> https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-February/060431.html
> https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-February/060470.html

And one of the messages had a link to still live and excellent page

> https://wiki.python.org/moin/AlternateLambdaSyntax

This page lists over 100 suggestions, mostly variants. So far as I can
see, my simple proposal isn't listed on that page. The page also says

> **Definitely Desirable Features**
[snip]
> *More friendly to inexperienced users*
[snip]
> Compared to other Python keywords, 'lambda' is rather esoteric.
> In the challenge for "farthest outside day-to-day English usage",
> its closest competitor would probably be 'assert', as even 'def'
> and 'elif' are just abbreviations for 'define' and 'else if'. Use of
> simpler keywords may make deferred expressions appear less
> intimidating than they seem with the current unusual keyword.

The word 'deferred' appears 7 times on the page. It also appears in
the python-dev messages.

If someone with more time and less bias then myself were to summarise
this discussion from 2006, I'd be most grateful, and they'd have
material for a great blog post.

Finally, many thanks to Abe for finding this gem, and countless
people's hard work in keeping it alive to be found. Backwards
compatibility is there for a reason.

-- 
Jonathan