2.2 open

[Martin v. Loewis]

Robin Becker <robin at jessikat.fsnet.co.uk> writes:

> yes I heard about that, but the semantics seem strange to me.
> open is not a file it is a function that produces an open file. 

It used to be a function that produces an open file, now it is a type
that produces an open file. Watch this:

>>> import httplib
>>> h=httplib.HTTP("localhost")
>>> print h
<httplib.HTTP instance at 0x816b85c>

So even though httplib.HTTP is a class (something that is very similar
to a type), you still can call it. Calling a type makes an instance of
the type.

> It's now not even amongst the built ins.

I don't understant this remark. open is certainly amongst the
built-ins:

>>> __builtins__.__dict__.has_key("open")
1

> what does X==type(X()) imply?

It implies that X is a type; calling a type gives an instance of the
type.

Regards,
Martin