On 15:53 Thu 09 Aug , Steve Holden wrote:
> Dick Moores wrote:
> > At 10:46 AM 8/9/2007, Bill Scherer wrote:
> >> Dick Moores wrote:
> [...]
> >> There is only one empty tuple.
> >> Does that clear it up for you?
> >
> > But isn't that the same as saying, "That's just the reality of
> > Python; it is what it is."? I want to know why there is only one
> > empty tuple, but more than one (1,).
> >
> Why? Because.
>
> Seriously, it's just an optimization by the implementers. There is no
> need for more than one empty tuple, since tuples can never be modified
> once created.
>
> But they decided not to create (1, ) in advance. They probably knew that
> hardly anybody would want to create that tuple ;-) [Seriously: if you
> started trying to predict which tuples would be used you would go
> insane, but the empty tuple is the most likely candidate].
>
> > Also,
> > >>> [] is []
> > False
> >
> In that case it would definitely NOT make sense to have them the same
> list. Python always ensures that the [] constructor creates a new list,
> since that list may be bound to one or more variables and mutated. You
> wouldn't want
>
> a = []
> b = []
> a.append("boo!")
>
> to change b so it was no longer an empty list. If you wanted a and b to
> reference the same list you would change the second statement to
>
> b = a
>
> regards
> Steve
OK fiddling around with this and reading the docs I tried:-
a = 'qqqqqqqqqq' #10 q's
b = 'qqqqqqqqqq' #10 q's
a is b
true
c = 'q' * 10
c
'qqqqqqqqqq' #10 q's
d = 'q' * 10
d
'qqqqqqqqqq' #10 q's
c is d
false
So from what I've read "==" tests for equivalence, "is" tests for identity but
that does not explain the behaviour above.
Regards, John
--
War is God's way of teaching Americans geography
Ambrose Bierce (1842 - 1914)
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