Custom namespaces

[Chris Rebert]

On Sat, Aug 1, 2009 at 6:06 PM, Steven
D'Aprano<steve at remove-this-cybersource.com.au> wrote:
> I was playing around with a custom mapping type, and I wanted to use it
> as a namespace, so I tried to use it as my module __dict__:
>
>>>> import __main__
>>>> __main__.__dict__ = MyNamespace()
> Traceback (most recent call last):
>  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
> TypeError: readonly attribute
>
> Why is __dict__ made read-only?
>
> I next thought I could change the type of the namespace to my class:
>
>>>> __main__.__dict__.__class__ = MyNamespace
> Traceback (most recent call last):
>  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
> TypeError: __class__ assignment: only for heap types
>
> Drat, foiled again!!!
>
> Okay, if I can't do this at the module level, can I at least install a
> custom namespace at the class level?
<snip>
> Apparently not. It looks like the namespace provided to the class
> constructor gets copied when the class is made.
<snip>
> Is there any way to install a custom type as a namespace?

For classes/objects, yes, using metaclasses.
See the __prepare__() method in PEP 3115:
http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-3115/

Cheers,
Chris
-- 
http://blog.rebertia.com