constant in python?

[Paul Rubin]

"Alex Martelli" <aleaxit at yahoo.com> writes:
> > problem with enforcing privacy is that the designer can seldom
> > anticipate all of the possible uses of their code and placing arbitrary
> > access restriction can make it impossible for the user to accomplish
> > their task.
> 
> Hear, hear!  Designers aren't omniscient and a language that lets
> me workaround a limitation in the design of a framework or library
> I need to use is just what I need.

The trouble is, the very existence of a workaround is sometimes itself
a limitation, e.g. in implementing an applet sandbox.

> > Python is a general purpose programming language and its design should
> > not be significantly compromised to make a particular (uncommon) usage
> > more convenient i.e. security environments.
> 
> Yep.  Besides, rexec and Bastion (could use some spiffying up,
> but) are pretty good for this.

I'll check into those.  However, a true general purpose language
should be useable in all environments.  

If Python had Scheme-like lexical closures, that might be enough
to solve this particular problem.