Python vs. Perl, which is better to learn?

[Andrew Dalke]

Alex:
> "Otherwise"...?
>
> >>> a0=re.compile('^a{0}')
> >>> a0.match('')
> <_sre.SRE_Match object at 0x8187fb0>
>
> Of *course* a{0} matches '' -- how could it FAIL to?

Oops, silly me.  I was posting way after my bedtime.  :)

What I meant to say was that if range was to be more Pythonic
("lower-boud-included, upper-bound-excluded") then the single
element repeat count should also be made more Pythonic.

Consider then if
  s = "aaaaa"
in this case,
  s[0] == "a"
which means the equivalent repeat would be
  ^a{0}$
to match "a" and only "a"

But people interpret that as a repeat count (like "a" * 1) rather
than as a slice of sort and it hasn't been a problem.  At least,
I've not seen people surprised by it.

I therefore don't think people have a Pythonic slice expectation
for the {,} construct in regexps.  On the other hand, there aren't
that many people who use this in the first place, so that population
is somewhat self selected.

                    Andrew
                    dalke at dalkescientific.com