[Python-Dev] Making mutable objects readonly

[M.-A. Lemburg]

Guido van Rossum wrote:
> 
> [ESR]
> > 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.
> >
> > Application?  I have a large Python program that goes to a lot of effort
> > to build elaborate context structures in core.  It would be nice to know
> > they can't be even inadvertently trashed without throwing an exception I
> > can watch for.
> 
> Yes, this is a good thing.  Easy to do on lists and dicts.  Questions:
> 
> - How to spell it?  x.freeze()?  x.readonly()?

How about .lock() and .unlock() ?
 
> - Should this reversible?  I.e. should there be an x.unfreeze()?

Yes. These low-level locks could be used in thread programming
since the above calls are C level functions and thus thread safe
w/r to the global interpreter lock.
 
> - Should we support something like this for instances too?  Sometimes
>   it might be cool to be able to freeze changing attribute values...

Sure :)

Eric, could you write a PEP for this ?

-- 
Marc-Andre Lemburg
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