Python has a nice function in the standard library random.choice which returns a random element from a sequence. But none of the other languages I've developed in have thought to include such a feature. Do other languages provide such a feature? Why not?
asked Oct 22, 2011 at 2:28
1 Answer
When choosing features for standard libraries several things have to be taken into account.
One of them is how crucial or basic a given feature is. If it won't be used on a daily basis by a substantial group of users, it likely doesn't belong in a standard library. Every feature requires time and resources to design, implement, integrate and ensure quality of. Both are limited and have to be shared between all such would-be features. Finally, even assuming resources would be available, the bigger picture has to be taken into account. Standard libraries generally aim to provide a relatively minimal set of generic tools. Adding superfluous features causes a library to bloat, making it harder to use and maintain.
Standard library designers have to weigh all those qualities against each other. In case of this particular feature, some have made a decision for it, some against.
Even when the standard library doesn't provide this feature right of the bat, it can easily be implemented with little code. In typical cases it all boils down to choosing a random index in an array or sorting a collection using a random comparison function and returning the first/last element. It comes as no surprise that almost every language provides a random number generator and some generic sort function in its standard library.
A classic post by Eric Lippert that somewhat touches on the subject.
array_rand()