[Python-ideas] Documenting Python warts (original) (raw)

Chris Angelico rosuav at gmail.com
Wed Jan 2 09:12:25 CET 2013

On Wed, Jan 2, 2013 at 6:29 PM, Antoine Pitrou <solipsis at pitrou.net> wrote:

Let's call them a compromise then, but calling them a language feature sounds delusional. I can't remember ever taking advantage of the fact that mutable default arguments are shared accross function invocations.

One common use is caching, as I mentioned earlier (with a contrived example). Another huge benefit is efficiency - construct a heavy object once and keep using it. There are others.

It's a feature that can bite people, but no less a feature for that.

ChrisA

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