[Python-Dev] PEP 3144 review.

["Martin v. Löwis"]

> Martin v. Löwis <martin <at> v.loewis.de> writes:
>>> Could you explain what benefit there is for allowing the user to create 
>>> network objects that don't represent networks? Is there a use-case 
>>> where these networks-that-aren't-networks are something other than a 
>>> typo? Under what circumstances would I want to specify a network as 
>>> 192.168.1.1/24 instead of 192.168.1.0/24?
>>>
> [...]
>> So Python code has to make the computation, and it seems most natural
>> that the IP library is the piece of code that is able to compute a
>> network out of that input.
> 
> The thing is, it doesn't create a network, it creates a hybrid "network plus
> host" which retains knowledge about the original host (that is, 192.168.1.1
> rather than simply 192.168.1.0, if you enter "192.168.1.1/24").
> 
> That's what the OP meant with "networks-that-aren't-networks", and that's what
> people are objecting to.

That's not the question that was asked, though - the question asked
was "Under what circumstances would I want to specify...". I hope
most people agree that it is desirable to be able to specify a network
not just by its network address.

Regards,
Martin