False positive nested-min-max for nested lists

[udifuchs]

Bug description

"""False positive `nested-min-max` for nested lists"""
a = [[1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6]]
print(max(max(a)))  # Output: 6
print(max(*a))  # Output: [4, 5, 6]

Configuration

No response

Command used

pylint a.py

Pylint output

************* Module a
a.py:3:6: W3301: Do not use nested call of 'max'; it's possible to do 'max(*a)' instead (nested-min-max)

Expected behavior

Pylint gives wrong advice. If a is a nest list, max(max(a)) is not equivalent max(*a).

Pylint version

pylint 3.0.3
astroid 3.0.2
Python 3.10.12 (main, Nov 20 2023, 15:14:05) [GCC 11.4.0]

OS / Environment

No response

Additional dependencies

No response

[jacobtylerwalls]

I wonder if we can recommend itertools.chain.from_iterable() here instead. Thanks for the clear report.

[Pierre-Sassoulas]

Isnt't max(max(a)) more elegant ? Should we consider this a false positive ?

[jacobtylerwalls]

I haven't benchmarked itertools but I would assume it's better than iterating twice. chain.from_iterable is marginally uglier, but I would guess that when people prefer explicitness over performance they'd probably disable the whole check. Thoughts?

[Pierre-Sassoulas]

Ha sure, sometime I don't remember or it's unclear what the goal of a check is. perfs and readability are sometime incompatible.