[Python-Dev] Pre-PEP: Attribute Access Handlers v2

[Paul Prescod]

Gordon McMillan wrote:
> 
> You can? Your proposal only specified that when the class
> object is being created, method names of the form
> __attr_XXX__ would cause stuff to happen in the way the class
> is built. You never said that  accesses to things named
> __YYY_XXX__ on another object would also get transformed
> into something else.

I would say that __attr_XXX__ causes two things to go into the __dict__:

 __attr_XXX___ = <unbound method....>
 XXX = <attribute accessor for XXX>

So you can call __attr_XXX__ directly just as you can call __getattr__
directly or __init__ etc.

> Deep inheritance hierarchies are unpythonic <0.001 wink>.

I'm told that in Zope even shallow hiearchies that use __getattr__ cause
problems. I proposed this idea about three years ago. I'm only bringing
it up again now because of a problem getting the DOM to work with Zope
because of Zope's use of __getattr__. I'm told this has gotten better
recently but I still see it as a symptom of a problem.

-- 
 Paul Prescod - Not encumbered by corporate consensus
New from Computer Associates: "Software that can 'think', sold by 
marketers who choose not to."