[Python-Dev] Provide a Python wrapper for any new C extension
Guido van Rossum
guido@python.org
Wed, 10 Jul 2002 15:25:22 -0400
[Hamish Lawson]
> One of the arguments put forward against renaming the existing time
> module to _time (as part of incorporating a pure-Python strptime
> function) is that it could break some builds. Therefore I'd suggest
> that it could be a useful principle for any C extension added in the
> future to the standard library to have an accompanying pure-Python
> wrapper that would be the one that client code would usually import.
There are too many distinct use cases to make this a hard and fast
rule. The problem with maintaining many builds is best served by
keeping the number of extensions small, period.
[Marc-Andre Lemburg]
> BTW, this reminds me of the old idea to move that standard
> lib into a package, eg. 'python'...
>
> from python import time.
Maybe in Python 3000. In 2.x, I think rearranging the standard
library will just cause more upheaval without much benefits.
> We should at least reserve such a name RSN so that we don't
> run into problems later on.
I can guarantee you that that name won't be used as a standard Python
module or package name any time soon. If someone creates a 3rd party
package or module named 'python' I'd question their sanity. :-)
--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)