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From: Robert Kern <robert.kern@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: object.enable() anti-pattern
Date: Wed, 08 May 2013 11:13:33 +0100
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On 2013-05-08 09:52, Steven D'Aprano wrote:
> I'm looking for some help in finding a term, it's not Python-specific but
> does apply to some Python code.
>
> This is an anti-pattern to avoid. The idea is that creating a resource
> ought to be the same as "turning it on", or enabling it, or similar.

I don't think the anti-pattern has a name, but it's opposite pattern is named:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_Acquisition_Is_Initialization

-- 
Robert Kern

"I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma
  that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had
  an underlying truth."
   -- Umberto Eco