Why Python does *SLICING* the way it does??
Terry Hancock
hancock at anansispaceworks.com
Wed Apr 20 09:18:35 EDT 2005
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
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