Newbie: finding the key/index of the min/max element

[James J. Besemer]

Mark McEahern wrote:

> [James J. Besemer]
> > It strikes me as somewhat arbitrary that "newbie" questions or comments
> > about language features are so irritating while answering newbie questions
> > over and over about how to split a text line into fields (or to measure
> > performance) is not.
>
> Is it really that arbitrary?

(a) "Somewhat" not completely.

(b) But it's significantly more arbitrary in a context where quite a few
language additions, revisions and extensions are routinely being discussed.

I submit that it's not possible even for smart people to tell the difference
WITHOUT either having been here or having some kind of FAQ to come up to speed.

I agree block delimiters are stupid.  But what about bool?  What about +=?  Both
used to be shunned but now they're in the language.  I'm sure there are a lot of
people here who expressed frustration in the past over the topic of the need for
"bool" being brought up over and over again.  Unless you know Guido's mind (and
a suprising number here appear to presume to) who's to say a ternary operator
couldn't someday be added?  According to the PEP a fortune cookie figured in the
decision for bool.

And anyway, if some questions persist in coming up over and over -- don't you
have to put your own prejudice aside and ask if maybe there's a point?

If nothing else, how is a newcomer supposed to know that it's a silly
suggestion?

Regards

--jb

--
James J. Besemer  503-280-0838 voice
http://cascade-sys.com  503-280-0375 fax
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