array and list

[Paul Rubin]

Travis Jensen <travis.jensen at gmail.com> writes:
> I wouldn't call it unfortunate.  The list semantics follow LISP's
> semantics far more closely than C's array semantics.  I would hazard
> to guess that they are called lists because that is what every
> functional language calls them and this aspect of python was modeled
> after functional languages.

1. I don't think python was modelled after functional languages--it has
always been imperative, while slowly gaining functional features,
sometimes against opposition.

2. In functional langagues, "list" traditionally means a linked
structure while "array" is a linear structure, so python's use of
the term "list" is actually a little bit confusing.