Or, in a different language open("file", "r").readlines. map{|line| line.strip}. filter{|line| line != ""} or some smarter but less readable ways.

Or, in a different language open("file", "r").readlines. map{|line| line.strip}. filter{|line| line != ""} or some smarter but less readable ways. I prefer the left-to-right transformations style to Python's list comprehension and inside-to-outside function composition. The reason is that it reminds me of how data flow into *nix pipelines. I spent decades working with them and I've been working with Ruby for the last half of that time. With Python in the last quarter of my career. It's a matter of choices and preferences of the original designed of the language. Both ways work.