__name__ becoming read-write?

[Anthony Baxter]

On Mon, 23 Aug 2004 15:58:26 GMT, Arthur <ajsiegel at optonline.com> wrote:
> Of course I am curious as to why, and what would be involved, and
> wrong,. with merging the local variable and the actual name for these
> special syntax items.  It would seem to have merit on its own terms.
> 
> For example I had noticed to use string substition on a function doc I
> needed to assign to __doc__ outside the function.

How would you envisage this working? Look at the following code:

def foo(arg):
    __doc__ = "bingle!"
    if arg < 0:
        __doc__ = "bangle!"
    if arg > 0:
        __doc__ = "bongle!"

Now, _before_ this code is run, what's foo.__doc__ supposed to be set
to? Remember, at this point, the code has not been run. The local
__doc__ has no value at this point.

Special casing __doc__ (or __name__) so that assignments to a local
like that inside a function assign magically to the function object is
bad magic. It leads to confusion and poor coding. In general, inside a
function, you don't have access to the function object itself[1]

Anthony

[1] I except using sys._getframe(), or raising an exception and
traversing up through the traceback object, as they're hacks.