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[Python-Dev] bool(iter([])) changed between 2.3 and 2.4

Greg Ewing greg.ewing at canterbury.ac.nz
Wed Sep 21 03:33:57 CEST 2005 
Guido van Rossum wrote:
> I just finished debugging some code that broke after upgrading to
> Python 2.4 (from 2.3). Turns out the code was testing list iterators
> for their boolean value (to distinguish them from None). In 2.3, a
> list iterator (like any iterator) is always true. In 2.4, an exhausted
> list iterator is false; probably by virtue of having a __len__()
> method that returns the number of remaining items.

This seems like a misfeature to me. In fact I think an
iterator having a len() method at all is a misfeature --
the concept doesn't make sense.

-- 
Greg Ewing, Computer Science Dept, +--------------------------------------+
University of Canterbury,	   | A citizen of NewZealandCorp, a	  |
Christchurch, New Zealand	   | wholly-owned subsidiary of USA Inc.  |
greg.ewing at canterbury.ac.nz	   +--------------------------------------+
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