Single type for __builtins__ in Py3.0

[Tom Anderson]

On Fri, 23 Sep 2005, Collin Winter wrote:

> If possible, I'd like to see this go in before 3.0. The reference manual 
> currently states [2] that __builtins__ can be either a dict or a module, 
> so changing it to always be a module would still be in keeping with 
> this. However, I realise that there's probably code out there that 
> hasn't been written to deal with both types, so this would result in 
> some minor breakage (though it would be easily fixable).

Perhaps __builtins__ should be a magic module which could be accessed 
using subscripting as well as proper names (__builtins__["int"] as well as 
__builtins__.int), to avoid breakage. AFAICT, there's no easy way to do 
this at the moment: defining __getitem__ in a module doesn't give you a 
working [] operator on it. Have i screwed that up? If not, might it be 
possible to change this, so modules are treated the same as any other 
object in terms of handling []? I admit that this is the only use case for 
it, and it's a pretty weak one, but it would be good to be consistent, i 
think.

> If this gets a good response, I'll kick it up to python-dev.

+1

tom

-- 
Gatsos are a stealth tax on motorists in the same way that city centre video cameras are a stealth tax on muggers and DNA testing is a stealth tax on rapists. -- Guy Chapman