Question

Am I alone in thinking that the arguments to the range() function are quirky.

range(m,n) - m is start, n is end-1
range(m,n,i) - m is start, n is end-1 and i is increment

ok that looks pretty easy to remember. 2nd argument is end-1 and optional 3rd is increment. but then

range(n) - end-1 What? The 2nd arg is optional and has taken the place of 1st where a default 0 is applied. Would it have made more sense to allow range(,n) or else range(0,n) to be consistent across all args?

Answer 1

hmmm - maybe.
I think they chose this interface to make the "common" usage simple - i.e. range(n)

Answer 2

otherwise the common case would involve writing slightly more code - range(0, n)