List replication operator

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Fri, 25 May 2018 09:28:01 +0200, Peter Otten wrote:

> Yet another arcanum to learn for beginners with little return. If you
> cannot refrain from tinkering with the language at least concentrate on
> the features with broad application. Thank you.

Broader than multi-dimensional arrays? There are a bazillion uses for 
them. How many do you need before it is "broad application"?

https://www.google.com/search?q=multidimensional+arrays

https://www.google.com/search?q=what+are+some+uses+for+multidimensional
+arrays

"My programming language doesn't support arithmetic, because I only 
provide features with broad application. Arithmetic is only useful for 
manipulating numbers."


Beginners already learn list * operator, and get *extremely emotional* 
when it doesn't copy lists like they expect:

https://bugs.python.org/issue33636

This is a frequent, recurring pain point. Experienced programmers forget 
how confusing the behaviour of * is because they're so used to the 
execution model. They forget that writing a list comp is not even close 
to obvious, not only for beginners but even some experienced Python 
programmers.




-- 
Steve