[Python-Dev] Retrieve an arbitrary element from a set without removing it (original) (raw)

Guido van Rossum guido at python.org
Mon Oct 26 17:38:13 CET 2009

All this talk of equivalence classes makes me dizzy. :-)

If sets were to grow an API to non-destructively access the object stored in the set for a particular key, then dicts should have such a method too.
Ditto for an API to non-destructively get an arbitrary element.
I'm far from convinced that we urgently need either API. But I'm also not convinced it's unneeded.
I still wish we could go back in time and unify sets and dicts, if only to find out how that experiment would turn out.

-- --Guido van Rossum

PS. My elbow needs a couple more weeks of rest. Limiting myself to ultra-short emails.