A Moronicity of Guido van Rossum

[Michael]

Xah Lee wrote:

> as i have hinted
> ( http://xahlee.org/perl-python/list_comprehension.html ), the
> so-called List Comprehension is just a irregular syntax to facilitate
> generating lists. The name is a terrible jargon, and the means is also
> quite fucked up. The proper name should be something like
> ListGenerator, and the proper means should be the plain function.

List comprehensions get their name (AFAICT) very clearly from set
comprehensions in mathematics. As a result anyone who has ever seen
a set comprehension in maths goes "oooh, I see". They're not the same, but
IMO they're close enough to warrant that name.

> i'm running a project that will code Table in Perl and Python and Java.
> You can read about the spec and source code here:
> http://xahlee.org/tree/Table.html
> (note: the Python version there isn't complete)

I just took a look at your python version. I'd agree it's incomplete. Indeed
it doesn't implement what you say it does. You seem to have re-invented
"apply" since you simply (badly) pass a set of arguments provided by the
user to a function provided by the user.

The description of the code you are pointing at bears absolutely no
resemblance whatsoever to the functionality you describe.

And you criticise the way other people name & describe their code,
when you can't show the skills you criticise in others? I know naming and
documentation are not easy skills, and if people take a *civil* tone in
suggested improvements, criticism (and suggestions) can be helpful.

However, I'd suggest /finishing/ your glass house /before/ you start
throwing stones, or else you'll never be able to smash it up the
neighbourhood properly.


Michael.