Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.pyt...@pearwood.info>: > Marko Rauhamaa wrote: > >> Your 'factory' is a: >> >> generator >> A function which returns an iterator. >> <URL: https://docs.python.org/3/glossary.html> > > That glossary entry is misleading, or at least incomplete, and it > fails to match the way "generator" is used by actual Python > programmers.
I am an actual Python programmer (I develop Python programs) and my definitive source for Python is the documentation. If there is an error in the documentation, I would very much like it to be corrected. > A generator (function) may be a function which returns an iterator, > but not all functions that return iterators are generators, and in > some ways returning an iterator is the *least* interesting part of > what makes a generator a generator. > > What distinguishes a generator from a regular function is the use of > `yield`. Any definition which fails to mention that fact is useless. The language reference had better use more precise language. It *is* the definitive source, after all. > Like many English words, we have two meanings for "generator": > > (1) A function containing the `yield` keyword, or "generator-function". > > (2) The result of calling such a function, an instance of > types.GeneratorType. PEP 255 calls that a "generator-iterator", but > that name doesn't appear to have caught on anywhere. > > If people can cope with the difference between a TV program and a > computer program, they can cope with "generator" having two meanings, > especially since we have ways to disambiguate between the two when > needed. I think that is untenable when you talk about a programming language. >> I don't think you should read much into what str(obj) returns. It's >> not much more than a random printable some CPython coder has cooked >> up in the heat of the moment. > > I think that is completely wrong. The repr() and str() of generator > instances is hardly "random", it reflects the consensus of the PEP > authors and the Python core developers, in particular the BDFL Guido > who approved the PEP, that the type of object it is should be called > "generator". Be that as it may, <URL: https://docs.python.org/3/reference/> and <URL: https://docs.python.org/3/library/> are the definitive sources for Python application programmers. Or is there a better reference you would recommend? Marko -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
