python >= 3.5
Version 3.5 onwards allows the use of PEP 448 - Extended Unpacking Generalizations:
>>> string = 'hello'
>>> [*string]
['h', 'e', 'l', 'l', 'o']
This is a specification of the language syntax, so it is faster than calling list:
>>> from timeit import timeit
>>> timeit("list('hello')")
0.3042821969866054
>>> timeit("[*'hello']")
0.1582647830073256
