[Python-Dev] Naming comprehension syntax [was Re: Informal educator feedback on PEP 572 ...] (original) (raw)

Guido van Rossum guido at python.org
Mon Jul 9 16🔞07 EDT 2018

Definitely docs first. And we should keep references to generator expressions too, if only to explain that they've been renamed.

Perhaps someone should try it out in a 3rd party tutorial to see how it goes? I'm CC'ing Raymond Hettinger.

On Mon, Jul 9, 2018 at 12:57 PM Brett Cannon <brett at python.org> wrote:

On Mon, 9 Jul 2018 at 12:05 Guido van Rossum <guido at python.org> wrote: I think this is worth a try.

How far do we want to go with this? Update the docs? Update the grammar and/or code? I think the former is probably good enough for now to see if it takes, and if it does then we can talk about updating code to not confuse people.

On Mon, Jul 9, 2018 at 12:04 PM Chris Barker - NOAA Federal <_ _chris.barker at noaa.gov> wrote: TL;DR- +1 on advocating the term “generator comprehension” as a synonym for “generator expression” in future documentation and instructional materials. The long version: If we were starting from scratch, maybe it would makes sense to use “ builder” or something else, rather than comprehension. But we’re not starting from scratch. And “list comprehension” has become a pretty universal (or at least common) term in the python world. So we really can’t expect to re-name that. And despite the term having its roots in an esoteric corner of mathematics, I’ve never seen anyone confused by it — it’s just a new word for a new thing to most folks. Which is actually why “generator expression” is a bit confusing — it seems to have more in common with comprehensions than with generators (As in: the things functions with a yield in them produce) In fact, the term “generator” is a bit confusing itself — due to it being a common English word, it seems to refer to the generic idea of “a thing that generates values on the fly”, which, of course it can be in Python. But it actually is a specific type. And you can make a “thing that generates values in the fly” with a regular class that follows the iterator protocol. So re-using the word in “generator expression” just adds a bit to the confusion. (Even though it’s technically correct, it does “make” an actual generator object, doesn’t it? (On a phone, so I can’t check) but that’s kind of an implementation detail. Also: if you google: “python list comprehension” you get a LOT of hits to tutorials, etc. So it is WAY too late to change that name. When you google “python generator expression” the top hit is the python docs, and the next few are about comparing generator expressions and list comprehensions. So I think we could start a new naming scheme for those. ‘cause then we’d get lost of questions about the difference between generator expressions and generator comprehensions ;-)

-CHB -- --Guido van Rossum (python.org/~guido)

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