From: Guido van Rossum [mailto:guido@python.org]
I would prefer to think of this is a useful feature rather than a wart. Finally we can have true constants!
Yuck. If you want that, define a property-like class that doesn't allow setting.
These "constants" of yours are easily subverted by defining a subclass which adds an instance __dict__ (any subclass that doesn't define __slots__ of its own does this).
Sorry - missing smiley there ;) But see my other post for a potentially useful side-effect of this. Not something I think should be done, but fun to think about. The idea is that you shouldn't be able to create a subclass without some really nasty work, as the only way to get it is to determine what module the module subclass is defined in, then grab the class out of that. But it's a horrible hack and I should never have suggested it ;) Tim Delaney