reloading modules and isinstance()

[Chris Mellon]

On Dec 5, 2007 12:06 PM, Tlis <tlis01 at googlemail.com> wrote:
> On 5 Dec, 13:18, Steven D'Aprano <st... at REMOVE-THIS-
> cybersource.com.au> wrote:
> > On Tue, 04 Dec 2007 15:41:48 +0100, Diez B. Roggisch wrote:
> > > You just discovered one reason why reload() is a bad idea and IMHO
> > > shouldn't be used at all - as tempting it might be.
> >
> > I disagree -- I find reload() extremely useful for interactively testing
> > modules. But I would never dream of using it in production code!
> >
> > --
> > Steven.
>
> Please note, that I was using the 'Reload modules' functionality of
> the software system in use, rather than the reload() function
> directly. I admit, though, that in the background it just may call
> reload() ...
>
> With all the problems of the reload() function, I still hope, that
> there should be possible to write a safe module 'reloader', that would
> fix the references, as required (e.g. by changing the
> variable.__class__ references). This should be provided by every
> serious Python development environment.
>

It's very nice to say that until you actually think about what it
entails - it's an extraordinarily hard problem. I challenge you to
write one (you don't need to have much more than a beginner knowledge
of Python to start on one) and then come back with your experiences.