They absolutely do solve a problem. But I can't help but wonder if it would have been possible to find a way to let people solve that problem in a more explicit

They absolutely do solve a problem. But I can't help but wonder if it would have been possible to find a way to let people solve that problem in a more explicit manner. The specific solution the Python team chose smells to me like one that was optimized for the convenience of the language's implementors more so than its users.