[C++-sig] Need help on enum--a concrete example

David Abrahams dave at boost-consulting.com
Tue Sep 10 14:04:28 CEST 2002


<<
From: "Peter Bienstman" <Peter.Bienstman at rug.ac.be>

Small question: is there a trick to pollute the global namespace with the
constants, such that one can write just 'red' in Python, rather than
'choice.red'?

I know it's less clean, but it's easier for the user and ties in better
with
Python's weak typing.
>>

It doesn't tie in well with Python's "strong namespaceing".
There is no global namespace in Python. Do you mean that you'd like the
constants to be in the enclosing scope?

prompt>python -c "import this"
The Zen of Python, by Tim Peters

Beautiful is better than ugly.
Explicit is better than implicit.
Simple is better than complex.
Complex is better than complicated.
Flat is better than nested.
Sparse is better than dense.
Readability counts.
Special cases aren't special enough to break the rules.
Although practicality beats purity.
Errors should never pass silently.
Unless explicitly silenced.
In the face of ambiguity, refuse the temptation to guess.
There should be one-- and preferably only one --obvious way to do it.
Although that way may not be obvious at first unless you're Dutch.
Now is better than never.
Although never is often better than *right* now.
If the implementation is hard to explain, it's a bad idea.
If the implementation is easy to explain, it may be a good idea.
Namespaces are one honking great idea -- let's do more of those!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


-----------------------------------------------------------
           David Abrahams * Boost Consulting
dave at boost-consulting.com * http://www.boost-consulting.com





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