[Python-3000] Thoughts on dictionary views

[Jason Orendorff]

On 2/20/07, Raymond Hettinger <raymond.hettinger at verizon.net> wrote:
> * A dict is also one of Python's most basic APIs (along with lists).  Ideally,
> we should keep those two APIs as simple as possible (getting rid of setdefault()
> and unneeded methods is a step in the right direction).  IMO, the views will be
> the hardest part of the API to explain and interact with when learning the
> language [...]

I agree.  Views will make dicts harder to learn for newcomers and
trickier to use even for experts.

The current non-aliasing behavior is a feature.  Seen that way, the
switch to views seems like a broken optimization.

> * ISTM that views offer three benefits:  re-iterability, set behavior, and
> self-updates. [...]

I think the benefit the team really liked was #4, "delete iterkeys(),
itervalues(), and iteritems() from the mapping API".  But this now
seems like false economy to me.

-j