Explanation of this Python language feature? [x for x in x for x in x] (to flatten a nested list)

[Chris Angelico]

On Fri, Mar 28, 2014 at 1:46 PM, Rustom Mody <rustompmody at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Moore’s Law isn’t a mythical beast that magically materialized in 1965
>> and threatens to unpredictably vanish at any moment. In fact, it’s
>> part of a broader ancient mechanism that has no intention of
>> stopping. This mechanism, which I call cost gravity, pulls down the
>> price of technology by about half every two years.
>
> Add to that the fact that cost=money ultimately comes from money=effort
> eg currencies like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ithaca_Hours
> (maybe even dolour → dollar though thats not the official etymology)
> and its clear that there is a ripple effect of technology breaking down
> old castles. Pleasant to the* layman, unpleasant to those professionals whose
> fiefdoms are threatened.

The price of technology to the end user, yes. Anyone can go out and
buy a computer that's powerful enough to do everything the typical
person needs, and it's cheap enough to fit inside the typical person's
budget. (Compare early IBM estimates of maybe half a dozen computer
sales worldwide.) That has nothing to do with whether or not that
person can create that computer. Same goes for software.

ChrisA