Discussion on: Things that weren't so obvious when you started to program in Python

Think of it as a gateway to functional programming. It mostly looks like a compact version of a for loop, so it's easier for folks who only know procedural or oo.

I think list comprehensions feel more pythonic. The syntax fits perfectly with the rest of python. I also think it is more similar to natural languages.

Example:

dog.name for dog in animals if dog.type == "dog"

"Please give me the dog names for every dog from my animals (if it really is a dog)"

It is also easy to use the same syntax for dictionary comprehensions and generators. Especially generators are a useful concept. Instead of creating a new list in memory they can generate them on the fly:

websites = (download(url) for url in the_complete_internet)

for page in websites:
    print(page)

Instead of downloading the complete internet into your memory this will download the pages one by one while iterating the generator.

These are the reasons why I personally love the comprehension syntax in python.

Edit
Uhm I just noted that your comment is already a year old. Sorry for reviving an old conversation.