Why Python does *SLICING* the way it does??

[Terry Hancock]

On Wednesday 20 April 2005 01:36 am, Raymond Hettinger wrote:
> <seberino at spawar.navy.mil>
> > Many people I know ask why Python does slicing the way it does.....
 [...] 
> Python's way has some useful properties:
 [...]
> OTOH, it has some aspects that bite:
 [...]
> I suspect that whether it feels natural depends on your previous background and
> whether you're working in an environment with arrays indexed from one or from
> zero.  For instance, C programmers are used to seeing code like:   for(i=0 ;
> i<n; i++) a[i]=f(i);   In contrast, a BASIC programmer may be used to FOR I = 1
> to N:  a[I]=f(I); NEXT.    Hence, the C coders may find Python's a[:n] to be
> more natural than BASIC programmers.

Well, I learned Basic, Fortran, C, Python --- more or less.  And I first found
Python's syntax confusing as it didn't follow the same rules as any of the
previous ones.

However, I used to make "off by one" errors all the time in both C and Fortran,
whereas I hardly ever make them in Python.

So I like Python's slicing because it "bites *less*" than intervals in C or Fortran.

Cheers,
Terry


--
Terry Hancock ( hancock at anansispaceworks.com )
Anansi Spaceworks  http://www.anansispaceworks.com