I think in some contextes map is more readable than [f() for i in S] because it's more verbatim Removing lamdba would be reduce readability of Python, I think here for examble of code like
class App: .... .... def drawLines(self, event): from random import randint r = lambda : randint(1, 100) self.canvas.create_line(r(), r(), r(), r()) defining one extra function would only confuse and self.canvas.create_line(r(1, 100), r(1, 100), r(1, 100), r(1, 100)) is not very nice to look at and what about creating one liner factories like from math import log10 log = lambda basis: lambda x: log10(x) / log10(basis) log2 = log(2) log2(2**10) -> 10.0 I would consider it as a great loss for Python if lambda will disappear -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list