[Python-ideas] PEP 428 - object-oriented filesystem paths

[Andrew McNabb]

On Tue, Oct 09, 2012 at 12:03:55AM +1100, Steven D'Aprano wrote:
> / is a symbol that means whatever the class
> gives it. It isn't like __init__ or __call__ that have defined
> language semantics, and there is no rule that says that / means
> division. I'll grant you that it's a strong convention, but it is
> just a convention.

I'll grant you that the semantics of the __truediv__ method are defined
by convention.

> But it's just a name. __add__ doesn't necessarily perform addition,
> __sub__ doesn't necessarily perform subtraction, and __or__ doesn't
> necessarily have anything to do with either bitwise or boolean OR.
> Why should we insist that __*div__ (true, floor or just plain div)
> must only be used for numeric division when we don't privilege other
> numeric operators like that?

__add__ for strings doesn't mean numerical addition, but people find it
perfectly natural to speak of "adding two strings," for example.  Seeing
`string1.__add__(string2)` is readable, as is `operator.add(string1,
string2)`.  Every other example of operator overloading that I find
tasteful is analogous enough to the numerical operators to retain use
the name.

Since this really is a matter of personal taste, I'll end my
participation in this discussion by voicing support for Nick Coghlan's
suggestion of a `join` method, whether it's named `join` or `append` or
something else.

--
Andrew McNabb
http://www.mcnabbs.org/andrew/
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