Steven D'Aprano wrote:
> On Sun, 08 Apr 2007 22:20:45 -0700, James Stroud wrote:
>
>
>>Steven D'Aprano wrote:
>>
>>>On Mon, 09 Apr 2007 02:26:37 +0000, James Stroud wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>Bart Willems wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>James Stroud wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>... It boils down to the fact that tuples are useless as a result
>>>>>>unless you know you really need them--and you never really NEED them.
>>>>>
>>>>>Could you clarify that for me? I use tuples *a lot* and I really *NEED*
>>>>>them - I'm building a lot of multi-tier reports where detail-level data
>>>>>is pulled out of a dictionary based on a composed key. It is impossible
>>>>>to build those dictionaries *without* using tuples.
>>>>
>>>>"Impossible" is a strong word, as is "need" (especially when in all caps).
>>>>
>>>>py> import md5
>>>>py> class HashedList(list):
>>>>... def __hash__(self):
>>>>... h = md5.new()
>>>>... for item in self:
>>>>... h.update(str(hash(item)))
>>>>... return int(h.hexdigest(), 16)
>>>>...
>>>>py> hl = HashedList('bob', 'carol', 'ted')
>>>>py> {hl:3}
>>>>{['bob', 'carol', 'ted']: 3}
>>>>
>>>>Impossible? I wouldn't even say that this was all that difficult.
>>>
>>>Possible, if by possible you mean "broken".
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>>>D = {hl: 3}
>>>>>>D
>>>
>>>{['bob', 'carol', 'ted']: 3}
>>>
>>>>>>hl[0] = 'Bob'
>>>>>>D
>>>
>>>{['Bob', 'carol', 'ted']: 3}
>>>
>>>>>>D.keys()[0] is hl
>>>
>>>True
>>>
>>>>>>D[hl]
>>>
>>>Traceback (most recent call last):
>>> File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
>>>KeyError: ['Bob', 'carol', 'ted']
>>>
>>>
>>
>> def __setitem__(self, *args):
>> raise TypeError, '%s doesn't support item assignment.' %
>>self.__class__.__name__
>>
>>
>>Problem fixed. Next?
>
>
> hl.reverse()
> hl.sort() # if the list isn't already sorted
> del hl[0]
> hl.append()
> etc.
>
>
> Yes, you can block those as well...
To prevent abuse.
but by the time you've finished making
> your HashedList immutable, it is just a slower tuple with a different
> name.
But has an index() method.
> In other words... you can avoid using tuples by using a tuple with a
> different name. You might as well just do this:
>
> HashedList = tuple
You can avoid using tuples any number of ways. For example, you can
catenate strings.
You seem to be under the misapprehension that I authored the Subjet
line. Please read the original quote:
> It boils down to the fact that tuples are useless as a result unless
> you know you really need them--and you never really NEED them.
Bear in mind that this was also a response to someone admittedly less
familiar to the language--to encourage him to use lists in favor of
tuples to avoid inconveniences later.
The HashedList is to show that you can always get around the requirement
for a tuple and thus an absolute need for a tuple doesn't exist, as
implied by the quote. I make no assertions as to the HashedLists
efficiency. I use tuples all of the time, but I could just as well
catenate strings etc. They are a language convenience that are
ultimately dispensible.
James
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