collections.Counter drops key if value is 0 and updating using += operator

[crypdick]

BPO	45936
Nosy	@rhettinger, @sweeneyde

^{Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.}

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GitHub fields:

assignee = 'https://github.com/rhettinger'
closed_at = <Date 2021-11-30.03:46:38.855>
created_at = <Date 2021-11-30.02:43:03.801>
labels = ['invalid', 'type-bug', '3.8']
title = 'collections.Counter drops key if value is 0 and updating using += operator'
updated_at = <Date 2021-11-30.03:47:26.253>
user = 'https://bugs.python.org/crypdick'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2021-11-30.03:47:26.253>
actor = 'rhettinger'
assignee = 'rhettinger'
closed = True
closed_date = <Date 2021-11-30.03:46:38.855>
closer = 'rhettinger'
components = []
creation = <Date 2021-11-30.02:43:03.801>
creator = 'crypdick'
dependencies = []
files = []
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 45936
keywords = []
message_count = 3.0
messages = ['407348', '407349', '407351']
nosy_count = 3.0
nosy_names = ['rhettinger', 'Dennis Sweeney', 'crypdick']
pr_nums = []
priority = 'normal'
resolution = 'not a bug'
stage = 'resolved'
status = 'closed'
superseder = None
type = 'behavior'
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue45936'
versions = ['Python 3.8']

[crypdick]

In brief:

from collections import Counter
x = Counter({'a': 0, 'b': 1})
x.update(x)  # works: Counter({'a': 0, 'b': 2})
x += x  # expected: Counter({'a': 0, 'b': 3}) actual: Counter({'b': 3})

I expect += and .update() to be synonymous. However, the += operator is deleting keys if the source Counter has a zero count to begin with:

x = Counter({'a': 1})
x += Counter({'a': 0})  # ok: Counter({'a': 1})

y = Counter({'a': 0})
y += y  # expected: Counter({'a': 0}) actual: Counter()

[sweeneyde]

This is consistent with the docstrings of the methods:

---------------------------------------------------------------------

>>> help(Counter.__iadd__)
Help on function __iadd__ in module collections:

__iadd__(self, other)
    Inplace add from another counter, keeping only positive counts.
    
    >>> c = Counter('abbb')
    >>> c += Counter('bcc')
    >>> c
    Counter({'b': 4, 'c': 2, 'a': 1})

>>> help(Counter.update)
Help on function update in module collections:

update(self, iterable=None, /, **kwds)
    Like dict.update() but add counts instead of replacing them.
    
    Source can be an iterable, a dictionary, or another Counter instance.
    
    >>> c = Counter('which')
    >>> c.update('witch')           # add elements from another iterable
    >>> d = Counter('watch')
    >>> c.update(d)                 # add elements from another counter
    >>> c['h']                      # four 'h' in which, witch, and watch
    4

---

However, it seems Counter.__iadd__ is not mentioned at all at https://docs.python.org/3/library/collections.html#collections.Counter. I think there could be a doc update.

[rhettinger]

I don't think there is a need to list the inplace methods. They were put in to optimize what was already occurring when only the __add__ method was defined. Also, other container typically don't specifically call out the inplace methods.