I may be going out on a limb here, but I don't think he's actually suggesting using `reduce(operator.add, ...)` instead of `sum()`. He argues himself a few slides later that short functions are always better than long ones. If you look at the title of the slides, I think he's simply presenting what FP is: a chain of maps, filters and folds.
It's true that Python will use a list comprehension or a generator expression where you would normally do this, but Python 3 still includes map() and filter(). (Despite Guido not being a big fan of these functions - http://www.artima.com/weblogs/viewpost.jsp?thread=98196).
My point is simply that the presentation does a good job at exposing what FP is and how to implement it in Python. Moving from maps to comprehensions comes naturally, once you get the hang of the idea.
PS: I have the same question about functools.partial. Can somebody answer this?
It's true that Python will use a list comprehension or a generator expression where you would normally do this, but Python 3 still includes map() and filter(). (Despite Guido not being a big fan of these functions - http://www.artima.com/weblogs/viewpost.jsp?thread=98196).
My point is simply that the presentation does a good job at exposing what FP is and how to implement it in Python. Moving from maps to comprehensions comes naturally, once you get the hang of the idea.
PS: I have the same question about functools.partial. Can somebody answer this?