[Python-Dev] [Python-checkins] cpython (2.7): #14804: Remove [] around optional arguments with default values (original) (raw)

Nick Coghlan ncoghlan at gmail.com
Tue May 22 14:08:50 CEST 2012

On Tue, May 22, 2012 at 6:34 PM, hynek.schlawack <python-checkins at python.org> wrote:

http://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/a36666c52115 changeset:   77102:a36666c52115 branch:      2.7 parent:      77099:c13066f752a8 user:        Hynek Schlawack <hs at ox.cx> date:        Tue May 22 10:27:40 2012 +0200 summary:  #14804: Remove [] around optional arguments with default values

Mostly just mechanical removal of []. In some rare cases I've pulled the default value up into the argument list.

Be a little careful with this - "[]" is the right notation when the function doesn't support keyword arguments. At least one of the updated signatures is incorrect:

diff --git a/Doc/library/itertools.rst b/Doc/library/itertools.rst --- a/Doc/library/itertools.rst +++ b/Doc/library/itertools.rst @@ -627,7 +627,7 @@ break

-.. function:: tee(iterable[, n=2]) +.. function:: tee(iterable, n=2)

itertools.tee([], n=2) Traceback (most recent call last): File "", line 1, in TypeError: tee() takes no keyword arguments

Since calling "tee(itr, n=2)" doesn't add really any clarity over "tee(itr, 2)", it's unlikely this function will ever gain keyword argument support (since supporting keyword arguments is slower than supporting only positional arguments for functions written in C.

The change is probably valid for the pure Python modules, and the builtins looked right, but be wary of any extension modules in the list.

Cheers, Nick.

-- Nick Coghlan   |   ncoghlan at gmail.com   |   Brisbane, Australia

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