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Re: object.enable() anti-pattern

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From Robert Kern <robert.kern@gmail.com>
Subject Re: object.enable() anti-pattern
Date Fri, 10 May 2013 16:33:09 +0100
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On 2013-05-10 15:01, Roy Smith wrote:
> In article <mailman.1527.1368188358.3114.python-list@python.org>,
>   Robert Kern <robert.kern@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I'd be curious to see in-the-wild instances of the anti-pattern that
>> you are talking about, then. I think everyone agrees that entirely
>> unmotivated "enable" methods should be avoided, but I have my doubts
>> that they come up very often.
>
> As I mentioned earlier in this thread, this was a common pattern in the
> early days of C++, when exceptions were a new concept and handled poorly
> by many compilers (and, for that matter, programmers).
>
> There was a school of thought that constructors should never be able to
> fail (because the only way for a constructor to fail is to throw an
> exception).  The pattern was to always have the constructor succeed, and
> then either have a way to check to see if the newly-constructed object
> was valid, or have a separate post-construction initialization step
> which could fail.
>
> See, for example, the isValid() and Exists() calls for RogueWave's
> RWFile class (http://tinyurl.com/c8kv26g).  And also,
> http://tinyurl.com/cgs6clx.
>
> Even today, there are C++ implementations which do not use exceptions.
> Some are for use in embedded or real-time systems where things need to
> be strictly time-bound and/or memory-bound.  Others are for historical
> reasons (http://tinyurl.com/6hn4zo).
>
> Once people were used to writing "can't fail" constructors in C++, they
> often continued using that pattern in other languages, where the
> underlying reasons no longer made sense.  Quite possibly, they never
> even knew the underlying reasons; they were taught, "Constructors must
> never fail", and assumed it was a universal rule.

Right, this is one of the "bad reasons" I talk about later in my message. The 
authors had a reason in their mind for doing it (they thought it was a universal 
rule); it was just a bad one. It's more useful to talk about why people thought 
they should follow that pattern than to just say "there is no reason to do this".

> This, BTW, is one of my biggest beefs with the classic Gang Of Four
> pattern book.  It presents a bunch of patterns as being universally
> applicable, when in reality many (if not most) of them are highly C++
> specific.
>
> BTW, whenever I read things like, "I think everyone agrees", I
> automatically assume what the writer really meant was, "I, and all the
> people who agree with me, think".

Hah! Fair enough. I actually meant it to emphasize that I thought that Steven 
was overly reducing his statements to something that was trivially true, 
sacrificing content for validity. I will suggest that your interpretation of 
that phrase is more appropriate when the speaker is proposing something of their 
own rather than (partially) conceding a point. The exaggeration is only 
self-aggrandizing in the former case.

-- 
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

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Thread

object.enable() anti-pattern Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2013-05-08 08:52 +0000
  Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Christian Heimes <christian@python.org> - 2013-05-08 11:51 +0200
  Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Robert Kern <robert.kern@gmail.com> - 2013-05-08 11:13 +0100
    Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2013-05-08 12:30 +0000
  Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2013-05-08 09:17 -0400
  Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Duncan Booth <duncan.booth@invalid.invalid> - 2013-05-08 14:27 +0000
    Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Dan Sommers <dan@tombstonezero.net> - 2013-05-09 02:38 +0000
      Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2013-05-09 05:37 +0000
        Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2013-05-09 15:52 +1000
    Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2013-05-09 03:12 +0000
  Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Dan Sommers <dan@tombstonezero.net> - 2013-05-09 02:42 +0000
    Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2013-05-09 05:23 +0000
      Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Terry Jan Reedy <tjreedy@udel.edu> - 2013-05-09 02:41 -0400
      Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Gregory Ewing <greg.ewing@canterbury.ac.nz> - 2013-05-09 19:54 +1200
        Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Cameron Simpson <cs@zip.com.au> - 2013-05-09 18:23 +1000
          Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2013-05-09 11:30 +0000
            Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Cameron Simpson <cs@zip.com.au> - 2013-05-10 09:36 +1000
              Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2013-05-10 05:00 +0000
                Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2013-05-10 01:50 -0400
                Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2013-05-10 09:47 +0000
                Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2013-05-10 09:22 -0400
                Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Cameron Simpson <cs@zip.com.au> - 2013-05-11 08:25 +1000
                Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Mark Janssen <dreamingforward@gmail.com> - 2013-05-10 20:16 -0700
                Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Thomas Rachel <nutznetz-0c1b6768-bfa9-48d5-a470-7603bd3aa915@spamschutz.glglgl.de> - 2013-05-11 06:21 +0200
                Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Mark Janssen <dreamingforward@gmail.com> - 2013-05-10 21:00 -0700
                Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Dennis Lee Bieber <wlfraed@ix.netcom.com> - 2013-05-11 15:04 -0400
        Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Greg Ewing <greg.ewing@canterbury.ac.nz> - 2013-05-10 10:56 +1200
      Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2013-05-09 09:07 -0400
        Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Oscar Benjamin <oscar.j.benjamin@gmail.com> - 2013-05-09 14:51 +0100
        Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2013-05-09 18:21 +0000
          Re: object.enable() anti-pattern MRAB <python@mrabarnett.plus.com> - 2013-05-09 19:34 +0100
            Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2013-05-10 02:30 +0000
              Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2013-05-09 23:09 -0400
                Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Mark Janssen <dreamingforward@gmail.com> - 2013-05-09 20:19 -0700
                Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2013-05-10 13:46 +1000
                Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2013-05-10 05:03 +0000
                Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Dan Sommers <dan@tombstonezero.net> - 2013-05-10 06:22 +0000
                Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2013-05-10 11:00 +0000
                Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Robert Kern <robert.kern@gmail.com> - 2013-05-10 13:19 +0100
                Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2013-05-10 10:01 -0400
                Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Oscar Benjamin <oscar.j.benjamin@gmail.com> - 2013-05-10 15:29 +0100
                Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2013-05-10 10:37 -0400
                Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2013-05-11 00:46 +1000
                Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2013-05-10 10:54 -0400
                Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2013-05-11 01:09 +1000
                Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2013-05-10 11:21 -0400
                Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2013-05-11 01:44 +1000
                Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Robert Kern <robert.kern@gmail.com> - 2013-05-10 16:33 +0100
                Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Serhiy Storchaka <storchaka@gmail.com> - 2013-05-10 18:44 +0300
                Re: object.enable() anti-pattern André Malo <ndparker@gmail.com> - 2013-05-11 17:33 +0200
                Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2013-05-12 02:04 +1000
                Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Robert Kern <robert.kern@gmail.com> - 2013-05-10 18:20 +0100
                Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2013-05-11 07:51 +0000
                Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2013-05-11 09:31 -0400
                Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Robert Kern <robert.kern@gmail.com> - 2013-05-11 20:55 +0100
                Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2013-05-12 08:39 +1000
                Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2013-05-11 03:24 +1000
                Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Mark Janssen <dreamingforward@gmail.com> - 2013-05-10 19:43 -0700
                Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Wayne Werner <wayne@waynewerner.com> - 2013-05-12 11:48 -0500
                Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Terry Jan Reedy <tjreedy@udel.edu> - 2013-05-12 16:23 -0400
                Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Mark Janssen <dreamingforward@gmail.com> - 2013-05-09 20:51 -0700
              Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2013-05-10 13:08 +1000
          Re: object.enable() anti-pattern roy@panix.com (Roy Smith) - 2013-05-09 14:59 -0400
            Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2013-05-10 07:55 +1000
      Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Nobody <nobody@nowhere.com> - 2013-05-10 17:59 +0100
        Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2013-05-10 13:32 -0400
          Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Dennis Lee Bieber <wlfraed@ix.netcom.com> - 2013-05-11 15:24 -0400
        Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2013-05-11 07:05 +0000
  Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Mark Janssen <dreamingforward@gmail.com> - 2013-05-08 19:53 -0700
  Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Mark Janssen <dreamingforward@gmail.com> - 2013-05-08 19:56 -0700
  Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Wayne Werner <wayne@waynewerner.com> - 2013-05-09 06:08 -0500
    Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2013-05-09 11:51 +0000
    Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Gregory Ewing <greg.ewing@canterbury.ac.nz> - 2013-05-10 11:43 +1200
      Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Michael Speer <knomenet@gmail.com> - 2013-05-09 20:18 -0400
        Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2013-05-09 20:50 -0400
      Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Wayne Werner <wayne@waynewerner.com> - 2013-05-12 12:14 -0500
      Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Terry Jan Reedy <tjreedy@udel.edu> - 2013-05-12 16:03 -0400
      Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Greg Ewing <greg.ewing@canterbury.ac.nz> - 2013-05-13 11:18 +1200
      Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Fábio Santos <fabiosantosart@gmail.com> - 2013-05-13 07:32 +0100
      Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2013-05-13 17:36 +1000
      Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Fábio Santos <fabiosantosart@gmail.com> - 2013-05-13 09:09 +0100
      Re: object.enable() anti-pattern Wayne Werner <wayne@waynewerner.com> - 2013-05-13 08:15 -0500

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