[Python-Dev] sys.implementation

["Martin v. Löwis"]

On 27.04.2012 09:34, Eric Snow wrote:
> On Thu, Apr 26, 2012 at 8:31 AM, Barry Warsaw<barry at python.org>  wrote:
>> It's somewhat of a corner case, but I think a PEP couldn't hurt.  The
>> rationale section would be useful, at least.
>
>    http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-ideas/2012-April/014954.html

Interesting proposal. I have a number of comments:

- namespace vs. dictionary. Barry was using it in the form
   sys.implementation.version. I think this is how it should work,
   yet the PEP says that sys.implementation is a dictionary, which
   means that you would need to write
   sys.implementation['version']

   I think the PEP should be silent on the type of sys.implementation,
   in particular, it should not mandate that it be a module (else
   "from sys.implementation import url" ought to work)

   [Update: it seems this is already reflected in the PEP. I wonder
    where the requirement for "a new type" comes from. I think making
    it a module should be conforming, even though probably discouraged
    for cpython, as it would make people think that they can rely on
    it being a module. I wish there was a builtin class

      class record:
         pass

    which can be used to create objects which have only attributes
    and no methods. Making it a type should also work:

     class implementation:
        name = "cpython"
        version = (3,3,0)

   in which case it would an instance of an existing type, namely,
   "type"]

- under-specified attributes: "run-time environment" doesn't mean much
   to me - my first guess is that it is the set of environment variables,
   i.e. a dictionary identical to os.environ. I assume you mean something
   different ...
   gc_type is supposedly a string, but I cannot guess what possible
   values it may have. I also wonder why it's relevant.

Regards,
Martin