[Python-Dev] 'With' context documentation draft (was Re: Terminology for PEP 343

[M.-A. Lemburg]

Nick Coghlan wrote:
> OK, here's some draft documentation using Phillip's context 
> terminology. I think it works very well.
> 
> """
> With Statements and Context Management
> 
> A frequent need in programming is to ensure a particular action is
> taken after a specific section of code has been executed (such as 
> closing a file or releasing a lock). The tool to achieve this in 
> Python is to use the 'with' statement along with the appropriate 
> context manager. Context managers ensure a particular action is taken 
> to establish the context before the contained suite is entered, and a 
> second action to clean up the context when the suite is exited.
> 
> The precise behaviour of the 'with' statement is governed by the
> supplied context manager - an object which supports the context 
> management protocol. This protocol consists of two methods:

May I suggest that you use a different name than "context" for
this ?!

The term "context" is way to broad for the application scopes
that you have in mind here (like e.g. managing a resource
in a multi-threaded application).

The PEP talks about "blocks", which is a much more precise term
for what "with" is going to implement, so I'd suggest to call
these thingies "block managers".

Thanks,
-- 
Marc-Andre Lemburg
eGenix.com

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