I'm trying to figure out Python lambdas. Is lambda one of those "interesting" language items that in real life should be forgotten?
I'm sure there are some edge cases where it might be needed, but given the obscurity of it, the potential of it being redefined in future releases (my assumption based on the various definitions of it) and the reduced coding clarity - should it be avoided?
This reminds me of overflowing (buffer overflow) of C types - pointing to the top variable and overloading to set the other field values.  It feels like sort of a techie showmanship but maintenance coder nightmare.
Lambdas are deeply linked to functional programming style in general. The idea that you can solve problems by applying a function to some data, and merging the results, is what google uses to implement most of its algorithms.  
Programs written in functional programming style, are easily parallelized  and hence are becoming more and more important with modern multi-core machines.
So in short, NO you should not forget them.
How are lambdas useful?