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Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2011 10:12:22 +0100
From: Eelco Hoogendoorn <hoogendoorn.eelco@gmail.com>
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Subject: Verbose and flexible args and kwargs syntax
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Xref: x330-a1.tempe.blueboxinc.net comp.lang.python:17025

>  The above examples are seldom needed in Python because we have one
>  general method to repeatedly split a sequence into head and tail.

>  it = iter(iterable) # 'it' now represents the sequenced iterable
>  head = next(it) # 'it' now represents the tail after removing the head

>  In other words, next(it) encompasses all of your examples and many more.
>  Because 'it' is mutated to represent the tail, it does not need to be
>  rebound and therefore is not.


The question in language design is never 'could we do these things 
before'. The answer is obvious: yes our CPUs are turing complete; we can 
do anything. The question is; how would we like to do them?

So do you think the new head/tail unpacking features in python 3 are 
entirely uncalled for? I personally quite like them, but I would like 
them to be more general.