Terry Hancock wrote: <snip>
> So I like Python's slicing because it "bites *less*" than intervals in C or Fortran. I disagree. Programming languages should not needlessly surprise people, and a newbie to Python probably expects that x[1:3] = [x[1],x[2],x[3]] . Array-oriented languages, such as Fortran 90/95, Matlab/Octave/Scilab, and S-Plus/R do not follow the Python convention, and I don't know of Fortran or R programmers who complain (don't follow Matlab enough to say). There are Python programmers, such as the OP and me, who don't like the Python convention. What languages besides Python use the Python slicing convention? Along the same lines, I think the REQUIREMENT that x[0] rather than x[1] be the first element of list x is a mistake. At least the programmer should have a choice, as in Fortran or VBA. In C starting at 0 may be justified because of the connection between array subscripting and pointer arithmetic, but Python is a higher-level language where such considerations are less relevant. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
