difference 2.3 versus 2.2

[Michele Simionato]

"Martin v. Löwis" <martin at v.loewis.de> wrote in message news:<b0o7nr$t1l$07$1 at news.t-online.com>...
>>Michele Simionato wrote:
>>$ p23a
>>Python 2.3a1 (#1, Jan  6 2003, 10:31:14)
>>[GCC 2.96 20000731 (Red Hat Linux 7.2 2.96-108.7.2)] on linux2
>>Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>>> class Meta(type): pass ...
>>>> class C(object): pass ...
>>>> C.__class__=Meta
>> TypeError: __class__ assignment: only for heap types
>> 
>> Can somebody put some light on this TypeError ? 
>> It looks like intentional.
>> 
>> I can change class of a normal object, why not the class of a class ?

>
>You can't change the class of arbitrary normal objects:
>
> >>> (2).__class__=float
>Traceback (most recent call last):
>   File "<interactive input>", line 1, in ?
>TypeError: __class__ assignment: 'float' object layout differs from 'int'
>
>In 2.3, this rules was tightened that not only the layout must be 
>compatible, but both old and new type must be "heap types", i.e. created 
>through a class statement. Without this restriction, 2.3 would have 
>allowed to write
>
>(2).__class__ = bool
>
>which would have cheated the constructor of the bool type.
>
>In your example, the old type of the object is TypeType, which is not a 
>heap type.
>
>Regards,
>Martin

Thanks, Martin.

Therefore, if I understand correctly, 'heap type' means 'user-defined type',
as opposed to built-in typ). For instance, I see that I *can* change the 
metaclass from Meta1 to Meta1 if both Meta1 and Meta2 are user-defined:

>>> class Meta1(type): pass
>>> class Meta2(type): pass
>>> C=Meta1('C',(),{})
>>> C.__class__
<class '__main__.Meta1'>
>>> C.__class__=Meta2
>>> C.__class__
<class '__main__.Meta2'>

This restriction (i.e. it is possible to change the __class__ attribute 
only for heap types) should be reported in "What's new in Python 2.3", 
since it is a change that breaks old code. I will send a copy of the 
present mail to python-docs at python.org.

Thanks again,

                                      Michele