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Thu Apr 12 02:05:15 EDT 2001 · http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2001-April/071730.html

[Barry A. Warsaw]
> ...
> When phrased as:
>
>     SPACE = ' '
>     SPACE.join(somelist)
>
> it did, and still does, read very nicely to me,

Same here!

> so I included it in the string methods patch.  Guido at least didn't
> hate it, so it made it in.

Your memory is correct here, but won't match Guido's.  In Guido's mind, he
*first* said:

    Funny, but it does seem right!  Barry, go for it...

(on Mon Jun 14 10:46:37 1999).  Your msg saying it was in the string methods
branch didn't get sent until Mon Jun 14 14:47:37 1999, and I'm sure Guido
can't imagine why it took you 4 hours to comply <wink>.

> ...
> As a function in the string module, the name `join' gives no clue
> as to whether the sequence comes first and the joining string
> comes second, or vice versa.  I often got it wrong, or had to look
> it up.  To me, that's a pretty big Pythonic sin, and I don't like
> it.

I don't think that's a coincidence:  join was alone among the string module
functions in not taking a string argument *first* (similarly the re module
functions take "the regexp" first, etc).  Since functions in the string
module were *conceptually* methods on strings, there was no choice but to
turn string.join(seq, sep) into sep.join(seq) <0.9 wink>.

"-".join("some random signoff string ly".split())+" y'rs  - tim"

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I come to praise .join, not to bury it...