Am I missing something with Python not having interfaces?

[A.T.Hofkamp]

On 2008-05-06, jmDesktop <needin4mation at gmail.com> wrote:
> Studying OOP and noticed that Python does not have Interfaces.  Is
> that correct?  Is my schooling for nought on these OOP concepts if I

Depends on your definition of 'Python does not have Interfaces'. They are not
in the official language, but they do exist. look into zope.interfaces, at
http://www.zope.org/Products/ZopeInterface .

> use Python.  Am I losing something if I don't use the "typical" oop
> constructs found in other languages (Java, C# come to mind.)  I'm

I think you are still thinking with a Java mind-set (no idea about C#, never
programmed with it).

Interfaces mainly exist to formalize TO A COMPILER that an object will provide
certain stuff. In this way, the compiler can catch such errors at compile time.

Python on the other hand does very little at compile time (other than parse
errors). Instead, at run-time it performs the checks that something you want to
use is actually there.
(in the same way that you don't declare variables a priori. You simply use them
and Python creates them for you when needed).

As a result, you get much more light-weight, more dynamic, code, which supports
the RAD nature of Python what makes it so much more productive.

(after a few years Python, you may find the Java way of doing things clunky).


> afraid that if I never use them I'll lose them and when I need them
> for something beside Python, I'll be lost.  Thank you.

You can continue doing everything exactly in the way you do now. Effectively
you would then be programming Java/C# in Python syntax. I believe you would
gain very little by that move.

If you dare let go of your old habits, and embrace the mindset of a new
language, you can learn a lot more, namely that programming can be done in many
different ways (even if all those ways are called OOP).
If you only have a hammer, the whole world looks like a nail. If you have a
whole toolbox, problems become much more diverse (subtle). You learn to use
the right tools for the right problem, and maybe you find new (better) ways of
approaching old problems.


In the process, you may lose details of how something was done in language X,
but that's why they have invented books.

Sincerely,
Albert