Of what use is 'lambda'???

[Tim Peters]

[Gareth McCaughan]
> ...
> Yes indeed. The fundamental problem is that Guido doesn't
> really like "lambda" and its friends, I think. I'm not
> quite sure why he put them into the language when he
> doesn't like them...

They (lambda/map/filter/reduce) were contributed code, and he put them in
because he *liked* them.  Unfortunately, other people *loved* them in their
native homes, and it's been a flamewar ever since.  Guido does not love
them.

He once called them "minor conveniences", which I believe is a 100% accurate
statement of his view of where they fit in Python:  occasionally pleasant
ways to deal with minor problems, but not essential, and never intended to
serve as the foundation of anybody's Python programming style.

So, in later years, after people kept yelling at him for continuing to treat
them as no more than minor conveniences, he switched to calling them "minor
annoyances".

advocacy-often-backfires-ly y'rs  - tim