[Python-Dev] Distutils using apply

[M.-A. Lemburg]

Guido van Rossum wrote:
>>Could someone please explain why apply() was marked deprecated ?
> 
> Becase it's more readable, more efficient, and more flexible to write
> f(x, y, *t) than apply(f, (x, y) + t).

True, but it's in wide use out there, so it shouldn't go until
Python 3 is out the door.

BTW, shouldn't these deprecations be listed in e.g PEP 4 ?

There doesn't seem to be a single place to look for deprecated
features and APIs (PEP 4 only lists modules).

I find it rather troublesome that deprecation seems to be using
stealth mode of operation in Python development -- discussions
about it rarely surface until someone complains about a warning
relating to it. There should be open discussions about whether
or not to deprecate functionality.

>>The only reference I can find is in PEP 290 and that merely
>>reports this "fact".
>>
>>I'm -1 on deprecating apply(). Not only because it introduces yet
>>another incompatiblity between Python versions, but also because it
>>is still useful in the context of having a function which mimics
>>a function call, e.g. for map() and other instance where you
>>pass around functions as operators.
> 
> Then maybe we should add something like operator.__call__.

Why remove a common API and reinvent it somewhere else ?

> OTOH, you're lucky that map isn't deprecated yet in favor of list
> comprehensions; I expect that Python 3.0 won't have map or filter
> either.

-- 
Marc-Andre Lemburg
eGenix.com

Professional Python Software directly from the Source  (#1, May 05 2003)
 >>> Python/Zope Products & Consulting ...         http://www.egenix.com/
 >>> mxODBC, mxDateTime, mxTextTools ...        http://python.egenix.com/
________________________________________________________________________
EuroPython 2003, Charleroi, Belgium:                        50 days left