> Nice lambda. You've defended yourself admirably.

Thanks!

> Did you know there's an `operator.itemgetter` function that does that?

Yes, I'm quite aware! Are you aware the "useless" functional solution with lambda is two characters shorter?

  >>> len('lambda item: item[1]')
  20
  >>> len('operator.itemgetter(1)')
  22

Cause you're apparently not aware that I was demonstrating a use-case for lambdas as one-off functions that are passed to other functions (which is an abstract concept from the particular function used), and you didn't demonstrate how list comprehensions or generators make them not-needed. Of course, that's because it was a leading question and the answer is that the concepts are orthogonal so it cannot be demonstrated.