Question

What am I doing wrong here?

a = set().add(1)
print a # Prints `None`

I’m trying to add the number 1 to the empty set.

Answer 1

It is a convention in Python that methods that mutate sequences return None.

Consider:

>>> a_list = [3, 2, 1]
>>> print a_list.sort()
None
>>> a_list
[1, 2, 3]

>>> a_dict = {}
>>> print a_dict.__setitem__('a', 1)
None
>>> a_dict
{'a': 1}

>>> a_set = set()
>>> print a_set.add(1)
None
>>> a_set
set([1])

Some may consider this convention “a horrible misdesign in Python”, but the Design and History FAQ gives the reasoning behind this design decision (with respect to lists):

Why doesn’t list.sort() return the sorted list?

In situations where performance matters, making a copy of the list
just to sort it would be wasteful. Therefore, list.sort() sorts the
list in place. In order to remind you of that fact, it does not return
the sorted list. This way, you won’t be fooled into accidentally
overwriting a list when you need a sorted copy but also need to keep
the unsorted version around.

In Python 2.4 a new built-in function – sorted() – has been added.
This function creates a new list from a provided iterable, sorts it
and returns it.

Your particular problems with this feature come from a misunderstanding of good ways to create a set rather than a language misdesign. As Lattyware points out, in Python versions 2.7 and later you can use a set literal a = {1} or do a = set([1]) as per Sven Marnach’s answer.

Parenthetically, I like Ruby’s convention of placing an exclamation point after methods that mutate objects, but I find Python’s approach acceptable.