Python's simplicity philosophy

[Ben Finney]

On 19 Nov 2003 17:20:10 -0800, Paul Rubin wrote:
> "A.M. Kuchling" <amk at amk.ca> writes:
>> [the Unix command] uniq doesn't report an error if its input isn't
>> sorted.
> 
> Maybe it should.  If its behavior on unsorted input isn't specified,
> you shouldn't assume it will act in any particular way.  

The specification on the man page for GNU uniq seems clear on this:

    DESCRIPTION
        Discard  all  but  one  of successive identical lines from INPUT
        (or standard input), writing to OUTPUT (or standard output).

It doesn't care if the input is sorted or unsorted; it describes
behaviour on successive identical lines, not the total set of all lines.

-- 
 \        "The Bermuda Triangle got tired of warm weather. It moved to |
  `\            Alaska. Now Santa Claus is missing."  -- Steven Wright |
_o__)                                                                  |
Ben Finney <http://bignose.squidly.org/>