constant in python?

[Alex Martelli]

"Brian Quinlan" <brian at sweetapp.com> wrote in message
news:mailman.998159307.24342.python-list at python.org...
> Paul Rubin:
> > I dislike the runtime system and the doctrinaire OO culture that's
> > grown up around Java, but having constants, and rigorously enforcing
> > protection of private class members and methods is one thing Java did
> > right.
>
> If you believe that then Python might not be the language for you. The

OTOH, he can get the worst of both words (from his POV) -- Java's
runtime (JVM) and libraries (doctrinaire OO) *AND* Python's lack
of enforced protection -- in Jython:-).

> 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.


> > It makes the "applet sandbox" very straightforward.  This
> > is useful for web browser extensions but also for security
> coprocessors
> > (Dallas Java iButton, Nci)
>
> 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.


Alex