Why self?

[Robb Shecter]

Brian Quinlan wrote:
>...  Actually, private instance
> variables are uncommon in general.
> 

Sounds like a difference in design philosophies.  In my code, private 
everything is the norm, with a very thin/small public API.


> Python forces you to be explicit. That way we will know what you are
> doing, right or wrong.

Mmmm - I dunno; I think this same argument could be used in the Java 
world for some of the things the language forces you to do, like 
explicit casting and declarations:

String name = (String) aVector.element(0)

Python doesn't have any problems with implicitness here...