[Python-Dev] Re: PEP 279

Guido van Rossum guido@python.org
Tue, 02 Apr 2002 08:36:45 -0500


[David Abrahams]
> I missed what this function does,

x(seq) returns [(0, seq[0]), (1, seq[1]), ...]

> but:
> 
>     "indexer" is a noun. I like it provided the function returns an
> indexer(). Otherwise, I'm not too sure.

Yeah, that's my main problem with it.

>     "enumerate()" sounds like it returns a list of the elements, or is
> an iterator interface over the elements. Looking it up at
>     http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary
> shows that it is dangerously close to meaning what we want to say. I say
> "dangerously" because it *doesn't* mean what we want to say, and I think
> a close-but-not-quite meaning is probably much worse than calling it
> wafflebird.

I don't know.

> unfortunately, numerate and itemize both mean about the same...

Numerate is obscure, but itemize() has potential!

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)