[Python-ideas] Counter comparison

[Antony Lee]

My goal was very simply to check whether it was possible to remove a
multi-set of elements from another, without any counts going below 0 (as
should be the case for "natural" counters).
Antony

2014-11-23 7:40 GMT-08:00 Ethan Furman <ethan at stoneleaf.us>:

> On 11/22/2014 09:33 PM, Nick Coghlan wrote:
> >
> > With the existing Counter-as-multiset features already offering some
> > potential for confusion, and the potential for further confusing
> > interactions between additional multiset features and Counter's
> > support for non-integer values, zero values (distinct from keys being
> > missing entirely) and negative values, there may be scope for a
> > separate true multiset API that draws more heavily on the set API
> > design than the dict API design.
> >
> > A dedicated multiset API would potentially be able to avoid the
> > confusing aspects of Counters-as-multisets by only allowing
> > non-negative integer values. Is there sufficient value in such an API
> > to justify adding it? Or would it just create confusion as folks tried
> > to decide between using Counter or using the new multiset/bag
> > container for their algorithm?
> >
> > That's an open question, but at the very least, it's worth considering
> > as an alternative to further elaborating on an already confusing
> > aspect of the collections.Counter design. There's at least one such
> > example of a bag API already available on PyPI:
> > https://pypi.python.org/pypi/data-structures/0.1.4#bag (you need
> > "-Counter" in a Google search to find that, as most current hits
> > describe the use of Counter as a multiset, rather than using a
> > dedicated container type)
>
> I have also wondered about the feasibility of separating out the multiset
> features into a distinct type.  Seems like
> that would avoid a bunch of confusion.
>
> --
> ~Ethan~
>
>
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