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Re: "Don't rebind built-in names*" - it confuses readers

References <mailman.3001.1370909708.3114.python-list@python.org> <dffd70ad-4e9a-45cd-914b-7f1388ded5a2@a9g2000pbq.googlegroups.com> <51b69332$0$29997$c3e8da3$5496439d@news.astraweb.com>
Date 2013-06-12 17:04 -0700
Subject Re: "Don't rebind built-in names*" - it confuses readers
From Mark Janssen <dreamingforward@gmail.com>
Newsgroups comp.lang.python
Message-ID <mailman.3143.1371081895.3114.python-list@python.org> (permalink)

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>> This has caused more trouble than it has solved.
>
> I take it you have never programmed in a programming language with a
> single, flat, global namespace? :-)

Hey, the purpose a programming language (i.e. a language which has a
consistent lexical specification), is to provide some modicum of
structure.  Yes, that implies that you're implicitly following a
language designers tacit philosophy (their "ObjectArchitecture") for
relating data to computers, but that's fine.  People always have the
option of going back to assembly and starting over.

> Apart from Erlang, got any other examples? Because it seems to me that in
> languages with nested scopes or namespaces, shadowing higher levels is
> exactly the right thing to do.

Really?

>>> int="five"
>>> [int(i) for i in ["1","2","3"]]
TypeError:  str is not callable

Now how are you going to get the original int type back?

> Certainly it would be a PITA, and defeat
> the purpose of having nested scopes, if inner names had to be globally
> unique. Wouldn't it be absolutely horrible if adding a global variable
> "foo"[1] suddenly meant that all your functions that used "foo" as a
> local variable stopped working?

Not necessarily, but this is what I'm talking about in defining a
ObjectArchitecture (or in some circles a "type system").
-- 
MarkJ
Tacoma, Washington

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Thread

"Don't rebind built-in names*" - it confuses readers Terry Jan Reedy <tjreedy@udel.edu> - 2013-06-10 20:14 -0400
  Re: "Don't rebind built-in names*" - it confuses readers rusi <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2013-06-10 19:36 -0700
    Re: "Don't rebind built-in names*" - it confuses readers Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2013-06-11 03:02 +0000
      Re: "Don't rebind built-in names*" - it confuses readers rusi <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2013-06-10 20:30 -0700
        Re: "Don't rebind built-in names*" - it confuses readers Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2013-06-11 05:52 +0000
        Re: "Don't rebind built-in names*" - it confuses readers Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2013-06-11 17:20 +1000
      Re: "Don't rebind built-in names*" - it confuses readers Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2013-06-11 13:57 +1000
      Re: "Don't rebind built-in names*" - it confuses readers Serhiy Storchaka <storchaka@gmail.com> - 2013-06-11 18:55 +0300
      Re: "Don't rebind built-in names*" - it confuses readers Mark Janssen <dreamingforward@gmail.com> - 2013-06-12 17:04 -0700
        Re: "Don't rebind built-in names*" - it confuses readers Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2013-06-13 01:01 +0000
      Re: "Don't rebind built-in names*" - it confuses readers Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2013-06-13 10:08 +1000
        Re: "Don't rebind built-in names*" - it confuses readers Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2013-06-13 01:08 +0000
          Re: "Don't rebind built-in names*" - it confuses readers Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2013-06-13 11:30 +1000
      Re: "Don't rebind built-in names*" - it confuses readers Skip Montanaro <skip@pobox.com> - 2013-06-12 19:18 -0500
      Re: "Don't rebind built-in names*" - it confuses readers Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2013-06-13 10:33 +1000
      Re: "Don't rebind built-in names*" - it confuses readers Ethan Furman <ethan@stoneleaf.us> - 2013-06-12 17:30 -0700
  Re: "Don't rebind built-in names*" - it confuses readers Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2013-06-11 02:56 +0000
    Re: "Don't rebind built-in names*" - it confuses readers Terry Jan Reedy <tjreedy@udel.edu> - 2013-06-11 02:06 -0400
    Re: "Don't rebind built-in names*" - it confuses readers Rick Johnson <rantingrickjohnson@gmail.com> - 2013-06-11 08:22 -0700
      Re: "Don't rebind built-in names*" - it confuses readers Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2013-06-11 16:59 +0000
      Re: "Don't rebind built-in names*" - it confuses readers Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2013-06-12 03:32 +1000

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