I think this is worth a try. On Mon, Jul 9, 2018 at 12:04 PM Chris Barker - NOAA Federal < chris.bar...@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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