[issue11889] 'enumerate' 'start' parameter documentation is confusing

[Peter Hammer]

Peter Hammer <phammer at cardious.com> added the comment:

"""
Changing the 'enumerate' doc string text from:

|      (0, seq[0]), (1, seq[1]), (2, seq[2]), ...

to:

|      (start, seq[0]), (start+1, seq[1]), (start+2, seq[2]), ...

would completely disambiguate the doc string at the modest cost of
sixteen additional characters, a small price for pellucid clarity.

The proposed changes to the formal documentation also seem to me to
be prudent, and I hope at this late writing, they have already been
committed.

I conclude with a code fragment for the edification of R. David Murray.
"""


class numerate(object):
  """
  A demonstration of a plausible incorrect interpretation of
  the 'enumerate' function's doc string and documentation.
  """
  def __init__(self,seq,start=0):
    self.seq=seq; self.index=start-1
    try:
      if seq.next: pass #test for iterable
      for i in xrange(start): self.seq.next()
    except:
      if type(seq)==dict: self.seq=seq.keys()
      self.seq=iter(self.seq[start:])

  def next(self):
    self.index+=1
    return self.index,self.seq.next()
        

  def __iter__(self): return self


if __name__ == "__main__":
  #s=['spring','summer','autumn','winter']
  s={'spring':'a','summer':'b','autumn':'c','winter':'d'}
  #s=enumerate(s)#,2)
  s=numerate(s,2)
  for t in s: print t

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<http://bugs.python.org/issue11889>
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