I think the relationship between lists, iterators, and generators is one of the greatest features of Python. I think len makes sense as a function in the same way the sum function makes sense as a function. Both do an operation on any eager iterable, including ones that don't store or "know" their own length.
The explicit self for methods comes straight out of the Python "rule" that explicit is better than implicit. Python is purposefully putting explicitness ahead of beauty, and I agree it's not particularly beautiful. Something that I find even less beautiful in Python is its super syntax:
super(theClass, self).method()
I'm still relatively new to Python, but I would argue that the super syntax goes a bit too far in explicitness (and I think it's fair to argue the same thing for the "self" in methods). Incidentally, there is a PEP (Python Enhancement Proposal) from 2007 to make super just work as super().method().
The explicit self for methods comes straight out of the Python "rule" that explicit is better than implicit. Python is purposefully putting explicitness ahead of beauty, and I agree it's not particularly beautiful. Something that I find even less beautiful in Python is its super syntax:
super(theClass, self).method()
I'm still relatively new to Python, but I would argue that the super syntax goes a bit too far in explicitness (and I think it's fair to argue the same thing for the "self" in methods). Incidentally, there is a PEP (Python Enhancement Proposal) from 2007 to make super just work as super().method().
http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-3135/