list(...) and list comprehensions (WAS: Arithmetic sequences in Python)

[Rocco Moretti]

Antoon Pardon wrote:

> Well we could have list(a) return [a], and have a list_from_iterable.
> Although I would prefer a different name.

Or reverse it - list() always takes a single iterable, and 
list_from_scalars() is defined something like follows:

 >>> def list_from_scalars(*args):
     return list(args)

 >>> print list_from_scalars(1,2,3)
[1, 2, 3]
 >>> print list_from_scalars('a')
['a']
 >>>