restriction on sum: intentional bug?

[Peter Otten]

Alan G Isaac wrote:

> I expected this to be fixed in Python 3:
> 
>>>> sum(['ab','cd'],'')
> Traceback (most recent call last):
>    File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
> TypeError: sum() can't sum strings [use ''.join(seq) instead]
> 
> Of course it is not a good way to join strings,
> but it should work, should it not?  Naturally,
> 
>>>> '' + 'ab' + 'cd'
> 'abcd'
> 
> Why doesn't duck typing apply to `sum`?

Our beloved language for "consenting adults" has its kindergarten moments...

Peter