[Python-Dev] Making mutable objects readonly

[Ka-Ping Yee]

Eric S. Raymond wrote:
> For different reasons, I'd like to be able to set a constant flag on a
> object instance.  Simple semantics: if you try to assign to a
> member or method, it throws an exception.

Guido van Rossum wrote:
> Yes, this is a good thing.  Easy to do on lists and dicts.  Questions:
> 
> - How to spell it?  x.freeze()?  x.readonly()?

I'm not so sure.  There seem to be many issues here.  More questions:

What's the difference between a frozen list and a tuple?

Is a frozen list hashable?

> - Should this reversible?  I.e. should there be an x.unfreeze()?

What if two threads lock and then unlock the same structure?

> - Should we support something like this for instances too?  Sometimes
>   it might be cool to be able to freeze changing attribute values...

If you do this, i bet people will immediately want to freeze
individual attributes.  Some might be confused by

    a.x = [1, 2, 3]
    lock(a.x)        # intend to lock the attribute, not the list
    a.x = 3          # hey, why is this allowed?

What does locking an extension object do?

What happens when you lock an object that implements list or dict
semantics?  Do we care that locking a UserList accomplishes nothing?

Should unfreeze/unlock() be disallowed in restricted mode?


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