Why doesn't join() call str() on its arguments?

[Jeremy Bowers]

I always wished computer science was more engineering then philosophy.
That way there'd always be an obvious answer.

I hear that!

To be fair, computer *science* is more like mathematics than philosophy;
once a correctly-framed question has been asked there is only one answer,
or at least the answers are definite, or definite in their indefiniteness.
(For the most part.)

We're programming here though, and there we are groping through the
formless void, arguing about whether my infinitesimal is better than your
infinitesimal.

Sorry, I was Zenning it out too, I guess.

By the way, just to be clear, my infinitesimal's dad can beat up your
infinitesimal's dad any day of the week.

(Looks like the Zen mood has passed...)

 

[Nick Vargish]

I always wished computer science was more engineering then
philosophy. That way there'd always be an obvious answer.

You don't have a lot of experience with philosophers, do you?

Most of them are quite willing to go on at great length about the
obvious answer to just about any question... You get a dozen obvious
answers with every twelve philosophers.

Nick

p.s. I've been working on a philosophy degree for about... 15 years
now.

 

[news.sydney.pipenetworks.com]

By the way, just to be clear, my infinitesimal's dad can beat up your
infinitesimal's dad any day of the week.

Ouch....it's getting personal . Your dad may be infinitesimal but my
dad is a complex number (I'm not joking, he really has a real and
imaginary part).

(Looks like the Zen mood has passed...)

Huy

 

[news.sydney.pipenetworks.com]

You don't have a lot of experience with philosophers, do you?
No

Most of them are quite willing to go on at great length about the
obvious answer to just about any question... You get a dozen obvious
answers with every twelve philosophers.

Interesting. I guess its obvious once stated, because if it wasn't
obvious, many people wouldn't agree. I'm sure theres got to be a few
copy cats in those 12 though.

Nick

p.s. I've been working on a philosophy degree for about... 15 years
now.

Does that mean you just haven't had time to finish ? or you have been
studying philosophy for 15 years ?

Huy

 

[Nick Vargish]

I'm sure theres got to be a few copy cats in those 12 though.

Those that don't come up with original answers alter the existing
ones a bit and call it their own.

Does that mean you just haven't had time to finish ? or you have been
studying philosophy for 15 years ?

Sort of an extended break, really. Every year I plan to finish up, but
then can't find the time and/or money to do it.

Nick

 

[Nick Coghlan]

I see your point but I'm not totally convinced I don't understand
unicode that well so I'll just be quiet now.

Unicode is horrible, but better than the available alternatives when it comes to
character sets with more than 128 characters

Your point about int and long vs str and unicode is interesting though.
Does it mean str and unicode will some time in the future be unified
once all the differences are sorted out ?

Eventually, all Python text strings will be unicode, with a separate type for
manipulating a sequence of bytes. That's a long way away, though.

Cheers,
Nick.

 

[Rocco Moretti]

(Taking a guess at which quote /F had in mind...)

Vezzini: "Inconceivable!"
Inigo: "You keep using that word. I do not think that it means what
you think it means."

Jeff Shannon

With all the talk about "never"s, my initial thought was:

Vezzini: Haha.. you fool! You fell victim to one of the classic
blunders. The most famous is: Never get involved in a land war in Asia.
Only slightly less well know is this: Never go in against a Sicilian
when death is on the line! Ha ha, Ha ha, Ha <thunk>

I think yours makes more sense in context, though.