Encapsulation unpythonic?

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Subject	Encapsulation unpythonic?
From	fsaldan1@gmail.com
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I am new to Python, with experience in Java, C++ and R. 

As I understand encapsulation is not a big thing in the Python world. I read that you can put two underscores before the name of a variable within a class declaration but in the many examples of code I looked at this is not widely used. I also read that encapsulation is "unpythonic."

Questions:

1) Is there a good text where I can read about the language philosophy? What practices are "pythonic" or "unpythonic"?

2) If it is in fact true that encapsulation is rarely used, how do I deal with the fact that other programmers can easily alter the values of members of my classes?

Thanks for any insights.

FS

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Encapsulation unpythonic? fsaldan1@gmail.com - 2013-08-17 05:26 -0700
  Re: Encapsulation unpythonic? Skip Montanaro <skip@pobox.com> - 2013-08-17 07:54 -0500
  Re: Encapsulation unpythonic? David <bouncingcats@gmail.com> - 2013-08-17 23:05 +1000
  Re: Encapsulation unpythonic? Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2013-08-17 16:50 +0100
  Re: Encapsulation unpythonic? Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2013-08-17 16:17 +0000
    Re: Encapsulation unpythonic? Joshua Landau <joshua@landau.ws> - 2013-08-18 18:15 +0100
      Re: Encapsulation unpythonic? Steven D'Aprano <steve@pearwood.info> - 2013-08-19 07:05 +0000
        Re: Encapsulation unpythonic? Dennis Lee Bieber <wlfraed@ix.netcom.com> - 2013-08-19 18:57 -0400
        Re: Encapsulation unpythonic? random832@fastmail.us - 2013-08-21 12:52 -0400
          Re: Encapsulation unpythonic? Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2013-08-22 02:06 +0000
        Re: Encapsulation unpythonic? Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2013-08-21 16:02 -0600
  Re: Encapsulation unpythonic? Gary Herron <gary.herron@islandtraining.com> - 2013-08-17 13:16 -0700
  Re: Encapsulation unpythonic? Terry Reedy <tjreedy@udel.edu> - 2013-08-17 17:22 -0400
  Re: Encapsulation unpythonic? Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2013-08-18 01:59 +0100
  Re: Encapsulation unpythonic? chaz2cry@gmail.com - 2013-08-22 19:12 -0700
  Re: Encapsulation unpythonic? Fabrice Pombet <fp2161@gmail.com> - 2013-08-30 10:43 -0700
    Re: Encapsulation unpythonic? Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2013-08-31 02:35 +0000
      Re: Encapsulation unpythonic? Fabrice Pombet <fp2161@gmail.com> - 2013-08-30 23:07 -0700
        Re: Encapsulation unpythonic? Marco Buttu <marco.buttu@gmail.com> - 2013-08-31 08:49 +0200
        Re: Encapsulation unpythonic? Gary Herron <gherron@digipen.edu> - 2013-08-31 00:03 -0700
          Re: Encapsulation unpythonic? Fabrice Pombet <fp2161@gmail.com> - 2013-08-31 00:42 -0700
            Re: Encapsulation unpythonic? Fabrice Pombet <fp2161@gmail.com> - 2013-08-31 01:00 -0700
        Re: Encapsulation unpythonic? Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2013-08-31 11:46 +0000
          Re: Encapsulation unpythonic? Ned Batchelder <ned@nedbatchelder.com> - 2013-08-31 08:41 -0400
            Re: Encapsulation unpythonic? Fabrice Pombet <fp2161@gmail.com> - 2013-08-31 05:49 -0700
          Re: Encapsulation unpythonic? Fabrice Pombet <fp2161@gmail.com> - 2013-08-31 05:57 -0700
            Re: Encapsulation unpythonic? Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2013-09-01 08:10 +0000
              Re: Encapsulation unpythonic? Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2013-09-01 18:21 +1000
                Re: Encapsulation unpythonic? Fabrice Pombet <fp2161@gmail.com> - 2013-09-01 03:09 -0700
                Re: Encapsulation unpythonic? Ethan Furman <ethan@stoneleaf.us> - 2013-09-01 11:42 -0700
                Re: Encapsulation unpythonic? Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2013-09-01 15:13 -0400
                Re: Encapsulation unpythonic? Ethan Furman <ethan@stoneleaf.us> - 2013-09-01 13:33 -0700
                Re: Encapsulation unpythonic? Tim Delaney <timothy.c.delaney@gmail.com> - 2013-09-02 07:54 +1000
                Re: Encapsulation unpythonic? Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2013-09-01 18:02 -0400
                Re: Encapsulation unpythonic? Ethan Furman <ethan@stoneleaf.us> - 2013-09-01 17:24 -0700
                Re: Encapsulation unpythonic? Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2013-09-01 20:59 -0400
                Re: Encapsulation unpythonic? Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2013-09-02 02:57 +0000
                Re: Encapsulation unpythonic? Ethan Furman <ethan@stoneleaf.us> - 2013-09-01 21:15 -0700
                Re: Encapsulation unpythonic? Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2013-09-02 01:57 +0000
              Re: Encapsulation unpythonic? Ben Finney <ben+python@benfinney.id.au> - 2013-09-02 09:32 +1000
                Re: Encapsulation unpythonic? Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2013-09-01 20:52 -0400
          Re: Encapsulation unpythonic? "Rhodri James" <rhodri@wildebst.demon.co.uk> - 2013-09-03 00:29 +0100
            Re: Encapsulation unpythonic? Dennis Lee Bieber <wlfraed@ix.netcom.com> - 2013-09-03 22:41 -0400
        Re: Encapsulation unpythonic? Dennis Lee Bieber <wlfraed@ix.netcom.com> - 2013-08-31 13:31 -0400
        Re: Encapsulation unpythonic? Tim Delaney <timothy.c.delaney@gmail.com> - 2013-09-01 03:47 +1000
    Re: Encapsulation unpythonic? 88888 Dihedral <dihedral88888@gmail.com> - 2013-09-02 14:43 -0700

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