[Tutor] Clearing the Deque • Picturing Python’s `deque` data structure

Mats Wichmann mats at wichmann.us
Wed Nov 8 18:58:42 EST 2023


On 11/8/23 16:36, Alan Gauld via Tutor wrote:
> On 08/11/2023 20:27, dn via Tutor wrote:
> 
>>>> *pronounced like “deck"
>>> New Zealand-style pronounciation?
> 
>> Actually (a very English exclamation), Stephen is based in London!
>>
>> How would you like it pronounced?
> 
> I've only ever heard it pronounced as Dee-Queue.
> 
> Differentiated from deque in that it is a noun and not a verb.
> So context is sufficient. I've certainly never heard it called
> a deck!

It has a long history (for me) of being "deck", as that's what Knuth 
proclaimed, and he was The God Of Computer Science when I was learning, 
even if he was associated with a bitter-rival university (I studied at 
UC Berkeley, and of course Knuth was Stanford).

I did some hunting and of course the excerpt is on the web - my books 
are in a box somewhere, not seen for decades:

===
A deque ("double-ended queue") is a linear list for which all insertions 
and deletions (and usually all accesses) are made at the ends of the 
list. A deque is therefore more general than a stack or a queue; it has 
some properties in common with a deck of cards, and it is pronounced the 
same way.
===

And my joke question had to do with somewhat notorious way "deck" comes 
out (to non-New Zealand / Aussie ears), parodied in a series of phony 
ads as can be seen here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tm5Hne97BA4




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