newbie ``print`` question

[gwhite]

On Sep 2, 1:49 pm, Terry Reedy <tjre... at udel.edu> wrote:
> On 9/2/2012 3:26 PM, gwhite wrote:
>
> > On the "rework" thing, yes, I suppose I could construct the line as a
> > single string prior to print.    There would be things like `for`
> > loops and conditionals to do so.  That isn't so unusual.
>
> The usual idiom is to construct a list of pieces and then join with ''.
>
>  >>> print(''.join(['1', '2']))
> 12
>
> Or map str to a list of objects.
>
>  >>> print(''.join(map(str, [1, 2])))
> 12
>
> You can do either of these in 2.x.
> If you use .write, include '\n' at the end of the list (when needed).
>
> Print was designed as a quick and easy way to put lines of text on the
> screen. Then people asked for a way to use with with other streams,
> hence the >> hack. Then people wanted ways to control the separator and
> terminator. As that point, Guido realized that it needed to be a
> function, not a statement, with all the options requested.

Thanks again, Terry.  There is a lot to the language, I am finding
out.  I am a HW engineer, not really a programmer.  Python seems a lot
more sophisticated than MATLAB.

I'm kinda thinking `write` is likely to be a little more "stable" than
`print` (if that is the right characterization) when my eventual
switch from 2.7 to 3.x happens.  You think?