Different "look and feel" of some built-in functions

[Chris Angelico]

On Sat, Sep 25, 2021 at 3:42 AM Stefan Ram <ram at zedat.fu-berlin.de> wrote:
>
> "Dieter Maurer" <dieter at handshake.de> writes:
> >A list is ordered. Therefore, it is important where
> >in this order an element is added. Thus, for a list,
> >`append` is a better name than `add` -- because it already
> >tells us in the name where it adds the new element.
>
>   In a collection of texts, which is not large but mixed from
>   many different fields and genres, I find (using a Python
>   script, of course) eight hits for "added to the list" :
>
> |s and rock n roll can be added to the list. As - Taylor, 2012
> | of opinion was probably added to the list tow - from a dictionary
> |gg and his wife might be added to the list of  - Sir Walter Scott
> |ships when your name was added to the list. In - Percy Bysshe Shelley
> |em that wealth should be added to the list. No - Henry
> |n was discovered and was added to the list of  - from a dictionary
> |nd said his name must be added to the list, or - Mark Twain
>
>   . There was no hit for "appended to the list".
>
>   When one says "add something to a list", it is usually understood
>   that one adds it at the /end/. In the case of traditional written
>   lists it is not possible in any other way.
>

When I add something to the shopping list, it is not added to the end.
It is added anywhere that there is room. If you care about the
sequence, you would say "add to the end". Or, using the more technical
and briefer word, "append". Most of the lists you're seeing there are
not being added to the end of; for instance, I would guess that quite
a few of them are inherently sorted lists, so you would be adding a
person's name in affabeck lauder, or adding something to a particular
ranked position, or whatever else. This is not the same thing.

ChrisA