summaryrefslogtreecommitdiffstats
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
authorEli Bendersky <eliben@gmail.com>2015-03-15 03:14:23 (GMT)
committerEli Bendersky <eliben@gmail.com>2015-03-15 03:14:23 (GMT)
commit39430daa3b82a121b80633436170d0e0757f0fac (patch)
treed68ee66f628bc242b81285f673ee11eabba7a7a1
parenta785dece572e7f2bcc8a10aab3a661208e94583e (diff)
downloadcpython-39430daa3b82a121b80633436170d0e0757f0fac.zip
cpython-39430daa3b82a121b80633436170d0e0757f0fac.tar.gz
cpython-39430daa3b82a121b80633436170d0e0757f0fac.tar.bz2
Issue #23549: Clarify confusion in heapq doc - accessing the mininmal element
The current documentation only mentions heap[0] as the smallest element in the beginning, and not in any of the methods' docs. There's no method to access the minimal element without popping it, and the documentation of nsmallest is confusing because it may suggest that min() is the way to go for n==1.
-rw-r--r--Doc/library/heapq.rst6
1 files changed, 4 insertions, 2 deletions
diff --git a/Doc/library/heapq.rst b/Doc/library/heapq.rst
index 43088ad..f8970be 100644
--- a/Doc/library/heapq.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/heapq.rst
@@ -47,7 +47,8 @@ The following functions are provided:
.. function:: heappop(heap)
Pop and return the smallest item from the *heap*, maintaining the heap
- invariant. If the heap is empty, :exc:`IndexError` is raised.
+ invariant. If the heap is empty, :exc:`IndexError` is raised. To access the
+ smallest item without popping it, use ``heap[0]``.
.. function:: heappushpop(heap, item)
@@ -112,7 +113,8 @@ The module also offers three general purpose functions based on heaps.
The latter two functions perform best for smaller values of *n*. For larger
values, it is more efficient to use the :func:`sorted` function. Also, when
``n==1``, it is more efficient to use the built-in :func:`min` and :func:`max`
-functions.
+functions. If repeated usage of these functions is required, consider turning
+the iterable into an actual heap.
Basic Examples