Does Python really follow its philosophy of "Readability counts"?

[alex23]

On Jan 21, 4:55 pm, "Russ P." <Russ.Paie... at gmail.com> wrote:
> Looks interesting. If it can somehow be integrated into the language
> as full-fledged feature, then I'd say it has potential. As I said
> before, I am not looking for a hack or a quick fix. I am interested in
> well-engineered data hiding that is fully supported as part of the
> language.

I think this is the main issue we disagree on. I'm happier for Python
to remain lightweight where such features can be easily added on
demand through external libraries. I see no reason why a library
couldn't be as "well-engineered" a solution as an extension to the
interpreter, its use being a mandated (and enforced) requirement
within personal projects. The language just has to enable such
solutions, which I feel Python does well.

Perhaps what really concerns me with the inclusion of data hiding into
the language itself is that people would use it :) I've always enjoyed
the openness of the Python libs, the "consenting adults" approach it
takes, and the ease with which I can override their inherent
functionality when I need to. (But I think we've been over this
before, the whole "the lib developer knows best" vs "I the coder know
best" argument...)

> [I am a bit confused though, because I seem to recall that Mr. Banks
> claimed earlier in this thread that enforced data hiding is useless.]

Maybe he was just trying to stave off threads like this one ;)