Range Operation pre-PEP

[Tim Peters]

[Fredrik Lundh]
> ...
> like most other operations that work on sequences, min() and max()
> only require you to have working __len__ and __getitem__ methods.

You won't need either in 2.2:  it will be enough that the min()/max()
argument be iterable.  For an extreme example, max(sys.stdin) (btw, this
stuff already works in current CVS Python).

[Douglas Alan, on filter()]
>> Yes, if its sequence argument is a tuple, then it returns a tuple

[back to /F]
> which probably is an unfortunate oversight, since it returns lists
> for all other sequences:

Not quite.  It also special-cases the snot out of strings:

>>> filter(lambda ch: ch in 'aeiou', "It also special-cases the "
...                                  "snot out of strings.")
'aoeiaaeeoouoi'
>>>

Oops:  make that 8-bit strings.  Pass filter() a Unicode string instead, and
then it returns a list -- oh ya, *that's* Pythonic <wink>.

The tuple and 8-bit string special-casing in filter() aren't oversights,
they're deliberate warts in the code.  Although I'd agree to call the
existence of these warts an oversight in the patch review process ...

stuck-with-it-now-ly y'rs  - tim