Extending Methods Vs Delegates

[Alex Martelli]

vbgunz <vbgunz at gmail.com> wrote:

> I am sorry I couldn't reply sooner! Alex, Python in a nutshell is my
> bible and I take it virtually everywhere! Seriously, I would highly
> recommend it to anyone with a little to a lot of Python experience.
> 
> I apologize for misinterpreting your passage on page 80. I will look
> much closer at your examples, links and ideas and I hope to straighten
> my knowledge on the subject of delegates!
> 
> Thank you for hinting on the "Template Method design pattern"! Sorry
> for any misunderstanding!

Hey, no problem -- such a misunderstanding is always a shared
responsibility, and as an author I need to take my part of the blame.

Unfortunately, the root issue is that more and more common, ordinary,
useful English words get expropriated by specialized technical meanings,
making it almost impossible to discuss technical matters in ordinary
English without *some* risk of misunderstanding (by the reader
mistakenly seeing a "specialized, technical meaning" where the NORMAL
English use of the word, possibly in a slightly metaphorical vein, is
what the author meant).  From "function" and "procedure", to "delegate"
and "built-in", a growing number of words become "risky"!-)

Funny enough, the problem is worst in English - because in many other
languages, the specialized technical terms often use borrowed English
words, so the other language's native terms remain available.  Latin had
similar luck wrt Greek a couple millennia ago -- all technical terms of
philosophy were borrowed Greek words, so the risk of confusion was in
fact much lower than it was in Greek;-).


Alex