behavior varied between empty string '' and empty list []

[Tzury Bar Yochay]

while I can invoke methods of empty string '' right in typing
(''.join(), etc.) I can't do the same with empty list

example:

>>a = [1,2,3]
>>b = [].extend(a)
>>b
>>b = []
>>b.extend(a)
>>b

[1,2,3]

I would not use b = a since I don't want changes on 'b' to apply on
'a'

do you think this should be available on lists to invoke method
directly?

[Gabriel Genellina]

Re: behavior varied between empty string '' and empty list []

En Mon, 24 Mar 2008 15:22:43 -0300, Tzury Bar Yochay
<Afro.Systems@g mail.comescribi ó:

while I can invoke methods of empty string '' right in typing
(''.join(), etc.) I can't do the same with empty list
>
example:
>

>>>a = [1,2,3]
>>>b = [].extend(a)
>>>b
>>>b = []
>>>b.extend(a )
>>>b

[1,2,3]

extend() -like most mutating methods- does not return the list, it returns
None.
Your empty list grow the 3 additional items, but since there were no
additional references to it, got destroyed.

I would not use b = a since I don't want changes on 'b' to apply on
'a'

Try with b = list(a)

do you think this should be available on lists to invoke method
directly?

You already can. Your example is misleading because you used b with two
meanings.
(Compare the *usage* of each variable/value, not their names). This is
equivalent to the second part of your example:

pya = [1,2,3]
pyb = []
pyb.extend(a)
pyb
[1, 2, 3]

and this is the first part:

pya = [1,2,3]
pyb = []
pyc = b.extend(a)
pyc
pyb
[1, 2, 3]

except that in your original example, the empty list had no name so you
cannot see how it changed.

--
Gabriel Genellina