On 28Jul2019 07:10, Chris Angelico <ros...@gmail.com> wrote:
When talking about indistinguishable objects, is it correct to talk about "the <x>" or "an <x>"?Example: def f(s): """Frob a thing. If s is an empty string, frobs all the things. OR If s is the empty string, frobs all the things. """ It's entirely possible that a Python implementation will optimize small strings and thus have exactly one empty string, but it's also entirely possible to have multiple indistinguishable empty strings. Grammatically, is it better to think of empty strings as an entire category of object, and you were passed one from that category ("an empty string"), or to think of zero-length instances of 'str' as being implementation details referring to the one and only Platonic "empty string"?
It depends. If the API _specifies_ that something is a singleton then I'd use its proper name (eg None or ClassName.SENTINEL or whatever) and use a definite article (eg "the queue is considered closed when the sentinel is received").
Does it make a difference to usage if the object is mutable? For instance, would you say "the empty string" but "an empty set"?
If the implementation _may_ fold indistinguishable things together I'd speak to the case that it may not, and say "if the string is empty", which (a) sidesteps whether there's only one empty string instance and (b) talks about the criterion for the decision and not some implementation artifact.
Cheers, Cameron Simpson <c...@cskk.id.au> -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
