title: Python, allowing passing single string and list of string to a function
body: <p>I have a function that makes a call to a REST API. One of the parameter is a comma-separated list of names. To generate it, I do this:</p>
  <pre><code>','.join(names)
  </code></pre>
  <p>However, I also want to allow the user to provide a single name. The problem is that if <code>names = ERII</code>, for instance, it results in <code>['E', 'R', 'I', 'I']</code>, but I need it to be <code>['ERII']</code> instead.</p>
  <p>Now, I could force the user to enter a list with only one value (<code>names=['ERRI']</code> or <code>names=('ERII',)</code>. I would prefer to allow the user to provide a single String. Is there a clever way to do that without a <code>if else</code> statement checking if the provided value is an <code>Iterable</code>?</p>
  <p>Also, I am uncertain as what would be the best practice here, force to provide a list, or allow a single string?</p>