Hi Ethan,

I'm not convinced that __all__ is responsible for codifying the api. The contents of __all__, does not stop anyone from importing anything in the module using `from foo import bar`. __all__ is specified in the tutorial as being included for the `from foo import *` case: 

https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/modules.html

And similar the first result for __all__ on google, is a stack overflow post stating that it is for from foo import *:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/44834/can-someone-explain-all-in-python

Best,

George

On Wed, Mar 3, 2021 at 9:47 PM Ethan Furman <ethan@stoneleaf.us> wrote:

On 3/3/21 12:55 PM, George Harding wrote:

> Python has an __all__ variable that can be defined in a module to restrict
> which members of the module should be included in a call `from foo import *`.

The primary purpose these days for `__all__` is to codify a module's API.  The *-import is just a happy accident.

> However specifying which members of the module should be excluded is more
> difficult.

And unnecessary -- specify `__all__` so your users know which classes, functions, variables, etc., can be safely used.  If it should be excluded, don't put it in `__all__`.

--
~Ethan~
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