Possible to create a read-only complex object?

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Mon, 12 Jul 2010 02:56:34 -0400, Terry Reedy wrote:

> On 7/11/2010 12:51 PM, python at bdurham.com wrote:
>> I have a complex object with attributes that contain lists, sets,
>> dictionaries, and other objects. The lists and dictionaries may
>> themselves contain complex objects.
>> I would like to provide a read-only version of this type of object for
>> other developers to query for reporting. Is there a way to prevent
>> other developers from changing the attributes of my complex and nested
>> object?
>> In researching this question, I have identified __setattr__ and
>> __delattr__ as possible ways to prevent changes to simple attributes,
>> but I don't believe these magic methods will prevent others from
>> fiddling with attributes containing lists and dictionaries or the
>> contents of these lists and dictionaries.
> 
> Python was not really not developed for multi-developer projects whose
> members are willing to stomp on each others objects.

I like the idea of competition-driven development, where the code that 
survives best in the face of hostile developers gets used.



-- 
Steven