Adding or multiplying a large list of numbers in Python can elegantly be done by folding the list with the addition or multiplication operator:

import functools, operator
lst = range(1,100)
sum  = functools.reduce(operator.add, lst, 0)
prod = functools.reduce(operator.mul, lst, 1)    

This needs the function equivalents of the operators + and * which are provided by the operator module as operator.add and operator.mul, respectively.

If I want to use the same idiom with the operator or:

ingredients       = ['onion', 'celery', 'cyanide', 'chicken stock']
soup_is_poisonous = functools.reduce(operator.or, map(is_poisonous, ingredients), False)

... then I discover that operator doesn't have a function equivalent of the logical and and or operators (though it has one for logical not)

Of course, I can trivially write one that works:

def operator_or(x,y):
  return x or y

But I wonder: why are there no operator.or and operator.and in operator? Bitwise and and or are there, but not the logical ones.

Of course this is just a minor annoyance, and the answer may well be the same as with the missing identity function: that it is easy to write one. But this holds for * and + as well, so why the difference?