why list comprehension is called so in python?

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+5 Q:

why list comprehension is called so in python?

No flaming please, asking as a community wiki so nobody gets reputation here. I know python is not the first language to have list comprehension. I'm just interest in the history of the name.

I'm particularly interested in why it's called comprehension

+1 A:

The history section of the wikipedia page discusses a little on where it came from. List_comprehension#History

Brandon Bodnár 2009-12-14 22:34:49

But it doesn't say why

Vinko Vrsalovic 2009-12-14 22:39:18

This is a programming site! bodnarbm is doing the right thing in maximising re-use through composition to the wikipedia article. Or something.

Joe 2009-12-14 22:43:19

And strictly speaking the answer to "why list comprehension is called so in python?" is "because that's what it's called in other languages".

Joe 2009-12-14 22:44:44

But why was it called so in other languages and not, say list "generator" or something else? Comprehension sounds weird

Davide 2009-12-15 16:03:29

+7 A:

The name comes from the concept of a set-comprehension

Comprehension is used here to mean complete inclusion or complete description. A set-comprehension is a (usually short) complete description of a set, not an exhaustive (and possibly infinite) enumeration.

Kevin Little 2009-12-14 22:46:34

But why set comprehension was called so?

Davide 2009-12-15 16:02:15

"comprehension" is used here to mean "complete inclusion" or "complete description". A set-comprehension is a (usually short) complete description of a set, not an exhaustive (and possibly infinite) enumeration. The set comprehension "{x∈N:x>2}" is the infinite set of all natural numbers greater than 2. (By convention, a capital 'N' is defined to mean the set of natural numbers, '∈' means "is of the set", ':' means "such that", and the '{}' mean "set".)

Kevin Little 2009-12-15 23:28:23

And now, Python has generalized the list comprehension syntax to sets!

dan04 2010-07-02 06:19:56

+1 A:

Because it's a very comprehensive way to describe a sequence (a set in math and other languages, and a list/sequence in Python).

ΤΖΩΤΖΙΟΥ 2010-01-05 10:55:29

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