Re: How is max supposed to work, especially key.

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Show key headers only | View raw

Albert van der Horst wrote:
> I agree that it is a useful function and that it is doing
> the right thing. What is wrong is the name.
> I refer to the fact that it is not returning the maximum.
> It returns the iterator value that leads to the maximum.
> A function that doesn't return a maximum shouldn't be called
> maximum.

But a maximum is often ambiguous. What is max(people), the oldest, tallest, 
or richest person? The key argument is a convenient way to disambiguate.

Thread

How is max supposed to work, especially key. albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl (Albert van der Horst) - 2014-11-27 17:34 +0000
  Re: How is max supposed to work, especially key. Peter Otten <__peter__@web.de> - 2014-11-27 19:01 +0100
    Re: How is max supposed to work, especially key. albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl (Albert van der Horst) - 2014-12-04 10:09 +0000
      Re: How is max supposed to work, especially key. Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-12-04 21:18 +1100
        Re: How is max supposed to work, especially key. albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl (Albert van der Horst) - 2014-12-04 10:35 +0000
          Re: How is max supposed to work, especially key. Jussi Piitulainen <jpiitula@ling.helsinki.fi> - 2014-12-04 12:51 +0200
          Re: How is max supposed to work, especially key. Peter Otten <__peter__@web.de> - 2014-12-04 12:31 +0100
          Re: How is max supposed to work, especially key. Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2014-12-04 23:03 +1100
          Re: How is max supposed to work, especially key. Terry Reedy <tjreedy@udel.edu> - 2014-12-04 10:47 -0500
      Re: How is max supposed to work, especially key. Jussi Piitulainen <jpiitula@ling.helsinki.fi> - 2014-12-04 12:45 +0200
        Re: How is max supposed to work, especially key. Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2014-12-04 22:55 +1100
          Re: How is max supposed to work, especially key. Jussi Piitulainen <jpiitula@ling.helsinki.fi> - 2014-12-04 14:58 +0200
      Re: How is max supposed to work, especially key. Peter Otten <__peter__@web.de> - 2014-12-04 12:24 +0100
      Re: How is max supposed to work, especially key. random832@fastmail.us - 2014-12-04 09:09 -0500

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