[Python-Dev] PEP 246, redux

[Clark C. Evans]

On Tue, Jan 11, 2005 at 12:54:36PM -0500, Phillip J. Eby wrote:
| * Replacing LiskovViolation is possible by dropping type/isinstance 
| checks from adapt(), and adding an isinstance check to 
| object.__conform__; Liskov violators then override __conform__ in their 
| class to return None when asked to conform to a protocol they wish to 
| reject, and return super().__conform__ for all other cases.  This 
| achieves your use case while simplifying both the implementation and the 
| usage.

I'd rather not assume that class inheritance implies substitutability,
unless the class is "marked" as an interface (assuming that one 
doesn't have interfaces).  I'd like it to be explicit -- a bit of a
nudge to remind a developer to verify substitutability is a good
thing. In this scenerio, a LiskovViolation exception isn't needed
(aside, I don't see the rationale for the exception: to prevent
third party adapters?). Could we make a boilerplate __conform__
which enables class-based substitutability a well-known decorator?

| * In my experience, incorrectly deriving an interface from another is the 
| most common source of unintended adaptation side-effects, not adapter 
| composition

It'd be nice if interfaces had a way to specify a test-suite that
could be run against a component which claims to be compliant.   For
example, it could provide invalid inputs and assert that the proper
errors are returned, etc.

Best,

Clark


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Clark C. Evans                      Prometheus Research, LLC.
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