using "private" parameters as static storage?

[Joe Strout]

Steve wrote:

> This is a pretty bizarre requirement, IMHO. The normal place to keep
> such information is either class variables or instance variables.

Holy cow, I thought it was just Chris, but there were half a dozen  
similar responses after that.

I'm starting to see a pattern here... any time Python lacks a feature,  
the Python community's party line is "You don't need that feature!"

I understand embracing the language rather than fighting against it,  
but that can be taken too far -- if somebody expresses a need, and is  
earnestly asking for input on a real programming problem, I'd think  
the nice thing would be to explore the programming problem with them,  
rather than arguing with them that they don't need what they claim  
they need.  Especially if they're not somebody who just stumbled out  
of college, but has been writing software professionally for decades,  
and may have a better idea than anybody else what their needs are.

Hypothetically speaking, is it possible that there could be any  
language feature Python doesn't have, which might be useful to anyone  
in any situation?  If so, how would you recognize such a rare beast?

Thanks,
- Joe