Why does python not have a mechanism for data hiding?

[Ben Finney]

Sh4wn <luckyluke56 at gmail.com> writes:

> first, python is one of my fav languages, and i'll definitely keep
> developing with it. But, there's 1 one thing what I -really- miss:
> data hiding. I know member vars are private when you prefix them with
> 2 underscores, but I hate prefixing my vars, I'd rather add a keyword
> before it.

>From whom are you trying to hide your attributes?

In Python, the philosophy "we're all consenting adults here" applies.
You shouldn't pretend to know, at the time you write it, all the uses
to which your code will be put. Barriers such as enforced "private"
attributes will only cause resentment when people, despite your
anticipations, *need* to access them and are then forced to hack their
way around them.

If you want the users of your code to know that an attribute should
not be used as a public API for the code, use the convention of naming
the attribute with a single leading underscore. This is a string
signal that the attribute is part of the implementation, not the
interface. The reader is then on notice that they should not rely on
that attribute; but they are not *prohibited* from using it if
necessary to their ends.

> Python advertises himself as a full OOP language, but why does it
> miss one of the basic principles of OOP?

Who taught you that enforced restrictions on attribute access was a
"basic principle" of OO?

Perhaps you're confusing the "encapsulation" and "abstraction"
principles for enforced access restrictions; they're not.

> Will it ever be added to python?

I hope not.

-- 
 \            "Why was I with her? She reminds me of you. In fact, she |
  `\             reminds me more of you than you do!"  -- Groucho Marx |
_o__)                                                                  |
Ben Finney