[Python-Dev] Adding any() and all()

[Greg Ewing]

Nick Coghlan wrote:
> A suggestion was made on c.l.p a while back to have a specific module 
> dedicated to reductive operations. That is, just as itertools is 
> oriented towards manipulating iterables and creating iterators, this 
> module would be oriented towards consuming iterators in a reductive fashion.

Is there really any need for another module just for this?

The distinction between reductive and non-reductive operations
on iterators seems rather too fine to me to deserve a whole
new module.

Why not just put them all in itertools?

> [1] While any()/all() read well in the context of an if statement, I 
> think anytrue()/alltrue() better convey the reductive nature of the 
> operations, read nearly as well in the if context, and read 
> significantly better when isolated from the if context (e.g. assigned to 
> a variable).

I don't agree. I think 'any' and 'all' are fine names for
boolean-valued functions in any context. Including 'true'
in their names smacks of the same kind of redundancy as

   if blarg == True:
     ...

which is widely regarded as a naive-newbie style blunder
in any language.

+1 on 'any' and 'all'

-1 on any names including 'true' or 'false'

Greg