[Python-Dev] Using and binding relative names (was Re: PEP forBetter Control of Nested Lexical Scopes)

[Almann T. Goo]

On 2/26/06, Alex Martelli <aleaxit at gmail.com> wrote:
> For the record: I detest the existing 'global' (could I change but
> ONE thing in Python, that would be the one -- move from hated
> 'global' to a decent namespace use, e.g. glob.x=23 rather than global
> x;x=23), and I'd detest a similar 'outer' just as intensely (again,
> what I'd like instead is a decent namespace) -- so I might well be
> sympathetic to your POV, if I could but understand it;-).

I would prefer a more explicit means to accomplish this too (I sort of
like the prefix dot in this regard), however the fundamental problem
with allowing this lies in how accessing and binding names works in
Python today (sorry if I sound like a broken record in this regard).

Unless we change how names can be accessed/re-bound (very bad for
backwards compatibility), any proposal that forces explicit name
spaces would have to allow for both accessing "simple names" (like
just "var") and names via attribute access (name spaces) like
"glob.var"--I think this adds the problem of introducing obscurity to
the language.

-Almann

--
Almann T. Goo
almann.goo at gmail.com