Why is del(ete) a statement instead of a method?

[Simon Brunning]

> From:	Padraig Brady [SMTP:Padraig at Linux.ie]
> 
> Greg Brunet wrote:
> > I'm just trying to learn Python, and one thing that struck me as odd
> > was that to delete a specific list element, I need to use a statement
> > instead of a method like I use for almost everything else I do on the
> > list.  This seems a bit inconsistent.  Why wouldn't it be a method?
> > 
> 
> Being a python newbie myself this strck me as a little inconsistent.
> 
> why can't you do:
> 
> l=[1,2,3]
> s="123"
> i=123
> 
> l[1].del()
> l.del()
> s.del()
> i.del()
 
del doesn't do anything to the object at all - it is operating on the name,
removing it from the local namespace. Since it is operating on the name
rather than the object itself, making it a method of the object would be
inappropriate.
 
> Same goes for len() et. al.
 
Now here you might have a point...

Cheers,
Simon Brunning
TriSystems Ltd.
sbrunning at trisystems.co.uk




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