"print" as function not statement

[Heather Coppersmith]

On 8 Mar 2004 08:31:48 GMT,
Duncan Booth <me at privacy.net> wrote:


> def show(*args, **kw):
>         separator = kw.get('separator', ' ')
>         trailer = kw.get('trailer', '\n')
>         to = kw.get('to', sys.stdout)
>         for keyword in kw:
>             if not keyword in ('separator', 'trailer', 'to'):
>                 raise TypeError(
> 'show() got an unexpected keyword argument' + keyword)
>         to.write(separator.join([ str(arg) for arg in args]))
>         to.write(trailer)
>         if len(args)==1:
>             return args[0]
>         else:
>             return args

List comprehensions are shiny and new and theoretically sound, and
definitely make things more clearer (sic) in plenty of cases, but
this one seems gratuitous to this old-timer.  What about:

    to.write( separator.join( map( str, args ) ) )

I'm half-tempted to suggest that there be a string.join_as_strings
method (or something with a more concise name) like this:

    class string:
        # other stuff elided to conserve bandwidth
        def join_as_strings( self, list_of_objects ):
            self.join( map( str, list_of_objects ) )

but it's (obviously) easy enough to create as necessary, even as a
(gasp!) stand-alone function:

    def join_as_strings( list_of_objects, separator = ' ' ):
        separator.join( map( str, list_of_objects ) )

Regards,
Heather

-- 
Heather Coppersmith
That's not right; that's not even wrong. -- Wolfgang Pauli