Vim & Vision
[ #22 ] Python Pet Peeves Permalink
The current Python (I do not know about Py3000) has some annoying features (annoying for me, not for you - you love them.)
How's this for counter-intuitive:
>>> a = ['f', 'a', 'i', 'l']
>>> a.join("")
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
AttributeError: 'list' object has no attribute 'join'
>>> "".join(a)
'fail'
... the join method, to me, seems like it's in the wrong area. If I have an array (list), I want to join it together with a string. I don't want to get a string, then join it to an array.
More counter-intuitiveness:
>>> import re
>>> pat = re.compile('^\w\d+$')
>>> s = 'b45343'
>>> s.match(pat)
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
AttributeError: 'str' object has no attribute 'match'
>>> pat.match(s)
<_sre.SRE_Match object at 0xb7c6e598>
... when programming and I have a string, I want to see if the string matches a pattern. I don't want to get a pattern and see if a string matches it. My suggestion could involve regex stuff being built into the string library - or not, depending on implementation. Either way is fine.
How about pypi, the place where Python packages live. Say I want a lib to do SSH, and don't know what the package is called. I ask pypi and I get a list including:
- conch
- paramiko
- pushy
- etc...
Contrast this to searching CPAN which is the place where Perl's libraries live. I get this:
- Net::SSH::*
- Bundle::SSH
- etc...
CPAN is clearer.
Here's another thing: you can't do assignments in conditional tests. Observe:
>>> if (a = (1 + 1)): print "yay"
File "<stdin>", line 1
if (a = (1 + 1)): print "yay"
^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax
... compare to Perl:
$ perl -e 'if ($a = (1 + 1)) { print "yay\n" }'
yay
Colophon
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