[Python-Dev] Exception for setting attributes of built-in type

[Nick Coghlan]

Guido van Rossum wrote:
> In general, CPython isn't always consistent in raising AttributeError
> and TypeError when it comes to such policy issues: there are various
> places that raise TypeError in typeobject.c (and probably elsewhere)
> that simply forbid setting a specific attribute (another example is
> __name__).

We're pretty inconsistent when it comes to looking up special methods as
well - those that are looked up through dedicated slots in abstract.c
usually raise TypeError, while those that are looked up via a PyType
method usually raise AttributeError.

I'm not sure that there is any practical way to handle that other than
for applications that care about cross-implementation compatibility in
this area to catch a (TypeError, AttributeError) tuple rather than one
or the other.

CHeers,
Nick.

-- 
Nick Coghlan   |   ncoghlan at gmail.com   |   Brisbane, Australia
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