Why tuple with one item is no tuple

[Robert Kern]

James Stroud wrote:
> On Wednesday 16 March 2005 07:22 am, Diez B. Roggisch wrote:
> 
>>As I said: show me which parentheses to use
> 
> 
> I kind of like the comma as a tuple "parentheses"
> 
> ,1,2,3,
> 
> replacing
> 
> (1,2,3)
> or
> 1,2,3,
> or
> 1,2,3
> or (isn't this is getting out of hand?)
> (1,2,3,)
> 
> Why not--except of course for backward compatability? Comma is not used for 
> anything else in python as far as I know.

[1, 2, 3]
{'a': 0, 'b': 2}
f(x, y)
print foo,

> This would be very unambiguous. 

Not entirely.

> Then, the purity would manifest itself the naked comma being an empty tuple. 
> Think about the zen of:
> 
>    ,

Is that a tuple or grit on my monitor?  :-)

-- 
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