J
John Salerno
I'm reading Text Processing in Python right now and I came across a
comment that is helping me to see for loops in a new light. I think
because I'm used to the C-style for loop where you create a counter
within the loop declaration, for loops have always seemed to me to be
about doing something a certain number of times, and not about iterating
over an object.
The reason for this distinction comes from the fact that I read a lot
how using range and for is somewhat discouraged, because it doesn't
really use a for loop for it's true purpose. So my question is, is this
just a Python-oriented opinion about for loops, or is it a general idea?
Also, what if you *do* need to just do something a set number of times.
Is this okay, or does it mean you are approaching the problem
incorrectly? Using for and range together seems to be a common idiom,
yet at the same time discouraged, so I'm wondering what is a good balance.
Thanks.
comment that is helping me to see for loops in a new light. I think
because I'm used to the C-style for loop where you create a counter
within the loop declaration, for loops have always seemed to me to be
about doing something a certain number of times, and not about iterating
over an object.
The reason for this distinction comes from the fact that I read a lot
how using range and for is somewhat discouraged, because it doesn't
really use a for loop for it's true purpose. So my question is, is this
just a Python-oriented opinion about for loops, or is it a general idea?
Also, what if you *do* need to just do something a set number of times.
Is this okay, or does it mean you are approaching the problem
incorrectly? Using for and range together seems to be a common idiom,
yet at the same time discouraged, so I'm wondering what is a good balance.
Thanks.