Remarks to Python 2.3

[Michael Hudson]

Markus Schaber <use-net at schabi.de> writes:

> - When replacing list elements using the extended slice syntax - e. G.
> in a[::2] = range(0, -2, -1) - the left side must have exactly the same
> numer of elements as the right side. So, to cite the example, a[::2] =
> range(3) is illegal for a=[0, 1, -1, 3]. 
> 
> Now I could image that it makes sense to allow one single additional
> element to be added to the list in case only the step is specified and
> the operation doesn't produce a gap. So the given example above would be
> valid, giving a sequence of five elements, whereas with a=[0, 1, 2] it
> would stay illegal (as it would produce a gap). a[0:3:2]=range(3) would
> stay illegal as it explicitly specifies the length of the range,
> a[0:3:5]=range(3) could be allowed.

Wanna implement that?  I agree it sounds reasonable.  This sort of
thing is way harder to get right than you might think, though.

If you (or anyone else) submits a patch, I'll review it.

Cheers,
M.

-- 
  Monte Carlo sampling is no way to understand code.
                                  -- Gordon McMillan, comp.lang.python