> > Fair enough, but that's a tutorial. It would be foolish to demand that a > tutorial be a complete reference for everything that can be done with a list.
I wasn't demanding anything of the page. I was pointing out how I made the assumption there was no way to find out if a list has a value other than by using index(). I am not used to having keywords in a language operate on a data structure, in addition to its methods. > The page lists all methods of list objects, but there are more things one can > do with lists that don't look like method calls. For example, it doesn't say > that you can compare lists. It doesn't say that you can read and write > elements in the lists. Would you automatically assume that those things aren't > possible? I hope not. (Of course, those operations are handled by the magical > methods __eq__, __setitem__, __getitem__ etc, but I think one can forgive the > tutorial for not mentioning those in the interest of not confusing beginners.) > > By your logic, no web page would be allowed to say anything about lists unless > it says *everything* about lists, and that wouldn't be very useful. As I just stated, I wasn't making a criticism of the page. But since you are defending it, let's talk about Python documentation from the perspective of an experienced programmer who is a new/casual user of both Python and Java. If I am in the process of writing a little Java program, java.sun.com provides documentation on its data structures that show up right at the top of a google search for "Java ArrayList", "Java Hashtable", etc. If I am writing a little Python program and want to see what I can do with a list, I google "python list" I get the tutorial page that has been mentioned. Then the next query result is a page that is titled the "Python Language Reference". But in this reference page for "python str,unicode,list,tuple,buffer,xrange", I see operators that work on lists and other data structures that I an mot concerned with, but there is no list of "list methods". But I do see navigational arrows that I hopefully assume will take me to a page where I can find all the list methods - but that is not the case. I go from "3.6 Sequence Types -- str, unicode, list, tuple, buffer, xrange" to "3.6.1 String Methods" to "3.6.2 String Formatting Operations" to "3.6.3 XRange Type" to "3.6.4 Mutable Sequence Types". And then I'm done with 3.6 of the Python Language Reference and I never saw a list of list methods or a page devoted to lists. So I bounce out to the table of contents assuming that there must be an entry for "list" that will show all the list methods and operators and give me a summary ala Java ArrayList. But all I find are entries for UserList and AddressList. :( -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
