[Python-Dev] thread semantics for file objects

[Jeremy Hylton]

On Fri, 18 Mar 2005 07:57:25 +0100, "Martin v. Löwis"
<martin at v.loewis.de> wrote:
> Writing down all these properties does little good, IMO. This includes
> your proposed property of file reads: anybody reading your statement
> will think "of course it works this way - why even mention it".

The thingsa that are so obvious they don't need to be written down are
often the most interesting things to write down.  In fact, you started
the thread by saying there were no guarantees whatsoever and chiding
me for asking if there were any.  But it seems there are some intended
semantics that are strong than what you would find in C or Perl. 
Hence, I don't think they would be obvious to anyone who comes to
Python from one of those languages.

I agree that the semantics of multi-threaded Python programs is an
enormous domain and we're discussing a tiny corner of it.  I agree
that it would be quite challenging to get better documentation or
specifications here.  But I also think that every little bit helps.

Jeremy