question to itertools.cycle()

Question

I made an example which you can see here: https://code.sololearn.com/cDdsshO0cKYN/?ref=app

Why are the results in both lines of the output not identical?

I would have supposed that the expressions 'it', which is set equal to 'count(a)', and 'count(a)' are totally equivalent.

Answer 1

As cycle() function is continuous, it progress until program is stopped.
So I guess variable "it" is holding iterable having cycle of a.

According to python documentations, cycle Make an "iterator" returning elements from the "iterable" and saving a copy of each. When the iterable is exhausted, return elements from the saved copy.

so when u do
>>>print (next(cycle (a)))
cycle returned an iterable holding value of first element of a so it might be like :
>>>print (next(iter [3]))

Correct me if I'm wrong.

Answer 2

In variant 2 you create a new iterator (which starts from the beginning of the list) in each iteration of the loop, so you get only the same value. A simple substitution of the expression "cycle(a)" is not possible in this case, because "cycle(a)" does something which is called a side effect.

Answer 3

after looking closely at the code then running it i noticed that you dont have the cycle printing, you defined it as cycle a then attempt to call it with its definition rather than 'it' the cycle defined

Answer 4

when defining something you can use just about anything however when calling you have to be very specific even one syllable causes issue