In article <180531ca-33aa-47b9-9c69-5b5973f6b...@v35g2000pro.googlegroups.com>, John Machin <sjmac...@lexicon.net> wrote: > >Neat trick. However, from 2.6.2: > >>>> help(sum) >Help on built-in function sum in module __builtin__: > >sum(...) > sum(sequence[, start]) -> value > > Returns the sum of a sequence of numbers (NOT strings) plus the >value > of parameter 'start' (which defaults to 0). When the sequence is > empty, returns start. > >Since when is a list a number? Perhaps the help needs clarification, >in line with the docs.
The primary use-case for sum() is numbers, with a special exception to prohibit using strings. Only strings are prohibited to allow using sum() with user-defined classes. That makes it a little difficult to document precisely in a summary; unless you can come up with a specific better wording, the docs will probably stay as-is. If you do come up with something better, please file it on bugs.python.org. -- Aahz (a...@pythoncraft.com) <*> http://www.pythoncraft.com/ "In 1968 it took the computing power of 2 C-64's to fly a rocket to the moon. Now, in 1998 it takes the Power of a Pentium 200 to run Microsoft Windows 98. Something must have gone wrong." --/bin/fortune -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
