Python's simplicity philosophy

[Dave Brueck]

> You just have to be taught by people who don't think
> that something as simple as reduce() is beyond your abilities.

Nobody in this entirely too-long thread has asserted such a thing. You have
inferred from people saying that it's non-obvious or less readable than other
constructs that they mean it's difficult to teach or that people are too stupid
to learn it. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

It's not that reduce is hard to learn - it's just that there are simpler and
clearer constructs that do the same thing and are more readable to most people.
That's it!

> fact, perhaps it was in a small part because I was introduced to
> concepts such as reduce() at a young age that I was able to become
> smart enough to get into such a fine school.  Would you deny such an
> opportunity to those who learn to program in Python?

<retching noises> Ok, I'm done with this thread. Have fun,
Dave