Const in python?

[Greg Ewing (using news.cis.dfn.de)]

Lulu of the Lotus-Eaters wrote:
> Brueck
> does a great job of explaining exactly why capitalized contstants aid
> comprehension.
> 
> Maybe I'm tainted by having already used it in a dozen languages before
> Python... hmmm, do you think there is a reason those dozen languages all
> use the same convention?

I was wondering the other day why this convention
somehow seems "right" to me. Rationally, it ought to
seem distracting as Dave Brueck suggests, but somehow
it doesn't.

And it occurred to me that it's reminiscent of an
inscription on a stone tablet, which traditionally is
done in upper case, probably because lower case wasn't
around back when people first started writing things
on stone tablets.

So, when I see something in ALL_CAPS, it gives me a
strong feeling of it being cast in stone.

If the same psychology applies to others, maybe this
is the reason the convention has caught on?

-- 
Greg Ewing, Computer Science Dept,
University of Canterbury,	
Christchurch, New Zealand
http://www.cosc.canterbury.ac.nz/~greg