[Python-3000] Generic function PEP won't make it in time

[Barry Warsaw]

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On Apr 27, 2007, at 4:21 AM, Greg Ewing wrote:

> Guido van Rossum wrote:
>
>> Then how do you explain the popularity of zope.interfaces in both the
>> Zope and the Twisted world?
>
> I don't know -- from my point of view, the fact that
> Zope and Twisted rely on them so much seems like a
> strangely unpythonic aberration. They don't seem to
> have caught on in a big way outside those two packages.

Part of the reason may be that interfaces, ABCs, or whatever become  
more important as applications turn into frameworks.  I sometimes  
think of my code along this axis of progression:

quick hack < script < library < application < framework

You can quibble about the order <wink>.  I've almost never cared  
about interfaces for anything smaller than an application, and even  
for most of those I don't care.  But as you approach frameworkiness,  
you start to care more because other people have to know where -- and  
how -- they can hook in.

I think there are just few Python applications complex enough to  
warrant the additional weight of interfaces.  For most Python code,  
keeping things light and malleable far outweighs any benefit that  
could be attained through interfaces.  But get far enough to the  
right of that scale and the weight of dealing with complexity through  
interfaces becomes more cost effective.

Cheers,
- -Barry


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