Quesion about the proper use of __slots__

[Alex Martelli]

Peter Hansen <peter at engcorp.com> wrote:

> Alex Martelli wrote:
> > Zefria <zefria at gmail.com> wrote:
> >    ...
> >>this special case I'm expecting each "carrier" to have up to 150
> >>fighters, and 3 to 5 carriers for each of the two teams, which comes
> >>out to be quite large.
> > 
> > The problem with the spread of email is that it reduces the number of
> > envelopes laying around, and thus makes it harder to do "back of the
> > envelopes" calculations (the key skill in engineering...).
> 
> Actually, a properly performed "engineering approximation" is done 
> entirely in one's head, preferably without resorting to calculation at
> all.

Of course, but you still need an envelope on whose back to scribble.
Tradition and historical continuity demand it.

> The "back of the envelope" ploy is reserved for cases where one is 
> trying to impress a waitress (which effort is inevitably doomed to fail
> of course), or to make it easier to submit the dinner receipt as a 
> business expense...

That's "back of the restaurant bill", a different though related
technique.  Since most restaurants don't print bills on envelopes, the
two are not really comparable.


Alex