Argument of the bool function

Sun Apr 10 13:51:03 EDT 2011

On 10-Apr-11 12:21 PM, Mel wrote:
> Chris Angelico wrote:
>>> Who would use keyword arguments with a function that takes only one arg
>> anyway?
>> It's hard to imagine. Maybe somebody trying to generalize function calls
> (trying to interpret some other language using a python program?)
>> # e.g. input winds up having the effect of ..
> function = bool
> name = 'x'
> value = 'the well at the end of the world'
> ## ...
> actions.append ((function, {name:value}))
> ## ...
> for function, args in actions:
> results.append (function (**args))
>> Not something I, for one, do every day. But regularity in a language is
> good when you can get it, especially for abstract things like that.
>> I can sort of guess that `dir` was perhaps coded in C for speed and doesn't
> spend time looking for complicated argument lists.
>> Python is a pragmatic language, so all the rules come pre-broken.
>>> 	Mel.
This thread has lasted 3 days so far.
I presume that it is agreed they the following is a satisfactory outcome:
*** Python 2.7.1 (r271:86832, Nov 27 2010, 18:30:46) [MSC v.1500 32 bit 
(Intel)] on win32. ***
 >>> bool(x=0)
False
 >>> bool(x=1)
True
 >>>
Colin W.