[Python-Dev] Baffled by PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords modification

[Guido van Rossum]

On 2/10/06, Jeremy Hylton <jeremy at alum.mit.edu> wrote:
> I added some const to several API functions that take char* but
> typically called by passing string literals.  In C++, a string literal
> is a const char* so you need to add a const_cast<> to every call site,
> which is incredibly cumbersome.  After some discussion on python-dev,
> I made changes to a small set of API functions and chased the
> const-ness the rest of the way, as you would expect.  There was
> nothing random about the places const was added.

I still don't understand *why* this was done, nor how the set of
functions was chosen if not randomly.

--
--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)