map/filter/reduce/lambda opinions and background unscientific mini-survey

[Robert Kern]

Sean McIlroy wrote:
> Peter Hansen wrote:
> <snip>
> 
>>Sean, what gave you the impression this would change?
> 
> just inductive reasoning. i've been wrong before (like anyone who makes
> that claim), and i'm a former python enthusiast, so my judgement must
> be colored to some extent  by bitterness. maybe they have solid reasons
> for scrapping the functional constructs. but to me it seems like
> they're eliminating them just because they offend the sensibilities of
> C-programmers.

This is incorrect.

> (i mean those stereotypical C-programmers, baffled by
> recursion and the like, who don't want to be reproached with the fact
> of their mathematical illiteracy.) if that's the case then list
> comprehensions and/or "first class functions" are likely to be the next
> target.

map and filter are being removed *because of* list comprehensions. Did 
you even read Guido's articles about this issue? Your understanding of 
why these changes are planned is incorrect; consequently your projection 
based on that understanding is not on firm footing.

> even if they're not, it's pretty clear that python is leaving
> its multiparadigmatic origins behind. "do it our way," the pundits are
> effectively saying, "or get out". for my part, i'm getting out.

If that's what you want to do, no one is going to stop you. But please 
do it quietly.

-- 
Robert Kern
rkern at ucsd.edu

"In the fields of hell where the grass grows high
  Are the graves of dreams allowed to die."
   -- Richard Harter