[Python-Dev] re: PEP 279 revisited, formally (original) (raw)

Tim Peters tim.one@comcast.net
Fri, 26 Apr 2002 11:58:06 -0400

[Guido]

... So enumerate() it is. (Specifically not enum() because of the C/C++ meaning of that word.)

The C/C++ meaning isn't a barrier to me: a C enum decl without embedded '=' must associate 0 with the first name, 1 with the second name, and so on. Indeed, if the Python enum returned pairs in (value, index) order,

dict(enum(['apple', 'pear', 'godzilla'])

would create the dict

{'apple': 0, 'pear': 1, 'godzilla': 2}

which is about as close to the C

enum {apple, pear, godzilla};
/* now apple==0, pear==1, godzilla==2 */

as you can get with a Python function.