is python Object oriented??

Russ P. Russ.Paielli at gmail.com
Tue Feb 3 20:13:32 EST 2009


On Feb 3, 4:05 pm, "Rhodri James" <rho... at wildebst.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> On Tue, 03 Feb 2009 08:45:23 -0000, Steven D'Aprano
>
> <ste... at remove.this.cybersource.com.au> wrote:
> > I find this extreme position is rather incoherent. If I may paraphrase
> > the argument as I see it:
> > "Enforced data hiding is useless, because it is utterly trivial to bypass
> > it, AND it's wicked, because it makes it unbelievably painful and
> > difficult to bypass it when you need to."
> > If it is trivial to bypass, surely it can't be that painful to bypass?
>
> I think you haven't noticed which of the parties is shifting their ground.
> I'm very much of the second opinion; it was Russ who did the sudden volte
> face and declared that it was trivial to circumvent.

Whoa! Hold on a minute here. Your failure to understand a simple idea
does not constitute a "sudden volte" (whatever that is) on my part.

Let me try to explain again what should be fairly obvious.

If the user of the library has the source code (and the right to
modify it), disabling access restrictions is trivial. You simply
delete the "private" keyword (or equivalent) wherever necessary.

If you are working with a team, however, you cannot just do that
unilaterally unless you have the authority to do so. In other words,
you may be required to conform to the APIs established by the team. In
that case, disabling access restrictions may not be impossible (or
even difficult), but it is no longer trivial.



More information about the Python-list mailing list