What's the use of module spaces? (was Re: Circular Inheritance)

[Aahz]

In article <mailman.1057174985.2375.python-list at python.org>,
Ian Bicking  <ianb at colorstudy.com> wrote:
>On Wed, 2003-07-02 at 10:03, Aahz wrote:
>> In article <mailman.1057124943.21695.python-list at python.org>,
>> Ian Bicking  <ianb at colorstudy.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>You might encounter less problems if those classes go together in a
>>>single module, but module boundaries are just there to help the
>>>programmer organize code, they have little formal meaning.
>> 
>> That's not true.  Modules define a namespace, and Python's execution
>> model makes heavy use of the "global" (read, current module's) namespace
>> for name resolution.
>
>Certainly modules have considerable *semantics* and effect execution. 
>But they have little *meaning*.  There's all sorts of semantics
>associated with classes, but that's incidental to the meaning of a class
>-- a class is a set up behaviors common to a kind of object.  A module
>is just a pile of stuff the programmer likes to keep together.  It's
>essentially a clerical feature.

You say that as if the organizing power of clerical work has little
intrinsic meaning.  I disagree.  It's precisely that organizing power
that lends value.
-- 
Aahz (aahz at pythoncraft.com)           <*>         http://www.pythoncraft.com/

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