List replication operator

[bartc]

On 25/05/2018 16:40, Steven D'Aprano wrote:
> On Fri, 25 May 2018 22:46:37 +1000, Chris Angelico wrote:
> 
>> We've already had a suggestion for [[]]@5 and that should deal with that
>> issue. Steven is proposing "multiply by copying" as an alternative to
>> "multiply by referencing", so an alternative multiplication operator
>> should fit that correctly. Steve, I don't want to speak for you; can you
>> confirm or deny acceptance of the matmul operator as a better spelling?
> 
> I thought that ** would be less controversial than @ since that's much
> newer. Silly me.
> 
> Personally, I don't care much either way. Probably a microscopic
> preference for @ over ** since it is shorter, but not enough to matter.
> 
> The usefulness of * with lists is seriously compromised by the inability
> to copy mutable items in the list. Consequently, it is an on-going gotcha
> and pain point.
> 
> On the other hand, it is arguable that what we really need is a standard
> function to return an N-dimensional array/list:
> 
> # return a 3x4x5x6 4-D list initialised to all zeroes
> arr = list.dimensions(3, 4, 5, 6, initial=0.0)
What stops you just writing such a function?