[Python-ideas] Generators' and iterators' __add__ method

[Terry Reedy]

On 2/15/2012 11:20 AM, Yuval Greenfield wrote:
> Wouldn't it be nice to add generators and iterators like we can do with
> lists?

That is simply not possible. list1+list2 is a list; tuple1+tuple2 is a 
tuple; list1+tuple2 is an error! What type would iterable1 + iterable 2 
be? Answer: a chain object!

>      def f():
>          yield 1
>          yield 2
>          yield 3
>
>      def g():
>          yield 4
>          yield 5
>
>      # today
>      for item in itertools.chain(f(), g()):
>          print(item)

The itertools module is the proper place for generic operations on 
iterables (and not just iterators!).

 >>> import itertools as it
 >>> list(it.chain([1,2,3], (4,5.6), range(7,10)))
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5.6, 7, 8, 9]

Chain 'adds' mixed types and is not limited to binary scope.

If we were starting fresh today, we *might* consider making the 
functions that went into itertools into methods of an iterable ABC. But 
making every function a method is not Python's style. Indeed, exposing 
generic methods like __len__ as functions is more common.

-- 
Terry Jan Reedy