[Python-ideas] Start argument for itertools.accumulate() [Was: Proposal: A Reduce-Map Comprehension and a "last" builtin]

[Nick Coghlan]

On 9 April 2018 at 14:38, Raymond Hettinger <raymond.hettinger at gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Apr 8, 2018, at 6:43 PM, Tim Peters <tim.peters at gmail.com> wrote:
>> In short, for _general_ use `accumulate()` needs `initial` for exactly
>> the same reasons `reduce()` needed it.
>
> The reduce() function had been much derided, so I've had it mentally filed in the anti-pattern category.  But yes, there may be wisdom there.

Weirdly (or perhaps not so weirdly, given my tendency to model
computational concepts procedurally), I find the operation of reduce()
easier to understand when it's framed as "last(accumulate(iterable,
binop, initial=value)))".

Cheers,
Nick.

-- 
Nick Coghlan   |   ncoghlan at gmail.com   |   Brisbane, Australia