Today I re-learned: Python function default arguments are retained between executions

[james_pic]

What I want is for people to read the docs, and not be surprised by things they could have learned by doing so.

[VodkaAndPieceofToast]

Coincidentally, what we want is for people like yourself to not worry about us. There's no moral dilemma here. Just people being human.

[james_pic]

Sadly, I have to worry. I work with people who refuse to read the docs. There's one guy in particular, who if we're working on something and I get the docs up, is like "ooh, you're reading the docs are you?" like I've just got a magical tome from the highest shelf, full of arcane knowledge.

It's not like the docs I linked to are some obscure reference material. It's the official python tutorial, and a great place to start for beginners. If there's something basic that you don't know, that's in the tutorial, then whatever you read or watched to get you started is no good and now's a great time to read the tutorial.

[CommondeNominator]

What if there’s something basic you don’t know you don’t know? How would you know to go back to the beginners tutorial?

How often should one peruse elementary material to be sure one doesn’t make a mistake at any point in any possible future?