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[Python-Dev] Retrieve an arbitrary element from a set withoutremoving it

geremy condra debatem1 at gmail.com
Tue Oct 27 20:27:50 CET 2009 
On Tue, Oct 27, 2009 at 3:13 PM, Guido van Rossum <guido at python.org> wrote:
> On Tue, Oct 27, 2009 at 11:50 AM, Terry Reedy <tjreedy at udel.edu> wrote:
>> There are two ideas of set.get floating about:
>> 1) get an arbitrary object
>> 2) get the object in the set with the same 'value'(hash+eq) as an input arg
>> (the intern case). In this case, there is a 'key', even if it is somewhat
>> abstract rather that being an object.
>>
>> Both could be done with the same method, depending on whether an arg is
>> passed or not.
>
> My gut tells me it is bad API design to collapse these two use cases.
> Probably because the implementations won't have much in common: (1)
> should just pick the first valid element, while (2) should use the
> normal hash lookup algorithm (shared with 'in', .add() etc.).
>
> --
> --Guido van Rossum (python.org/~guido)


Was it ever decided whether this would fall under the moratorium?

Geremy Condra
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