On Sun, Apr 26, 2009 at 7:54 AM, Steven D'Aprano <st...@remove-this-cybersource.com.au> wrote: > On Sat, 25 Apr 2009 10:50:50 +0300, Ciprian Dorin, Craciun wrote: > >> On Sat, Apr 25, 2009 at 10:43 AM, <bearophileh...@lycos.com> wrote: >>> Ciprian Dorin, Craciun: >>>> Python way: >>>> --------- >>>> def eq (a, b) : >>>> return a == b >>>> >>>> def compare (a, b, comp = eq) : >>>> if len (a) != len (b) : >>>> return False >>>> for i in xrange (len (a)) : >>>> if not comp (a[i], b[i]) : >>>> return False >>>> return True >>> >>> That's not "pythonic". >>> >>> Bye, >>> bearophile >>> -- >>> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list >> >> Ok... Then what's pythonic? Please give a pythonic implementation... > > Don't re-invent the wheel. Instead of creating your own functions, use > existing tools to your advantage. > > import operator > > def compare(a, b, comp=operator.eq): > if len(a) != len(b): > return False > for a, b in zip(a, b): > if not comp(a[i], b[i]): > return False > return True > > > But we can re-write that to be even more pythonic, by using the built-in > all(): > > def compare(a, b, comp=operator.eq): > if len(a) != len(b): > return False > return all(comp(x, y) for (x, y) in zip(a, b)) > > or even: > > def compare(a, b, comp=operator.eq): > return (len(a) == len(b)) and all(comp(*t) for t in zip(a, b)) > > > (All the above are untested, so please excuse any errors.) > > >> Ciprian Craciun. >> >> P.S.: Also, I'm tired of hearing about the pythonic way... Where >> do I find a definitive description about the pythonic way? > > There is no such thing as a definitive description of pythonic -- it is > like art, and pornography: you can recognise it when you see it (except > when you can't). > > However, you can get close by doing: > > import this > > in the Python interactive interpreter. Or from a shell prompt: > > python -m this > > >> I think that >> this word is used only when someone sees something that he doesn't like, >> he doesn't know what he doesn't like at it, and just goes to say its >> un-pythonic, without saying what would be... Wouldn't be just easier to >> say "I don't know" or "I doesn't feel right to me"? > > I think that there's a risk that people over-use unpythonic when they > mean "I don't like it", but that doesn't mean that pythonic isn't a > meaningful concept. However, it is a matter of degree, not kind: like > mole-hills and mountains, unpythonic and pythonic are very different > things, but there's no precise dividing line between them. > > > -- > Steven
I liked very much your implementation for the compare function, it is very short and at the same time readable: > def compare(a, b, comp=operator.eq): > return (len(a) == len(b)) and all(comp(*t) for t in zip(a, b)) But I have only one problem, it is suboptimal, in the sense that: * it constructs two intermediary lists (the list comprehension and the zip call); * it evaluates all the elements, even if one is false at the beginning; So, could you overcome these problems? About the pythonic vs unpythonic words, I agree with you, there are ofter overused and misused... Ciprian. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list