Python dynamic attribute creation

[Ethan Furman]

WANG Cong wrote:
> On 06/27/10 12:01, Carl Banks <pavlovevidence at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> On Jun 25, 8:24 pm, WANG Cong <xiyou.wangc... at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Understand, but please consider my proposal again, if we switched to:
>>>
>>> setattr(foo, 'new_attr', "blah")
>>>
>>> by default, isn't Python still dynamic as it is? (Please teach me if I
>>> am wrong here.)
>>>
>>> This why I said the questionable thing is not so much related with dynamic
>>> programming or not.
>> Because it makes dynamicism harder to do.
>>
>> Like I said, Python's goal isn't simply to make dynamicism possible,
>> it's to make it easy.
>>
>> "foo.new_attr = 'blah'" is easier than using setattr.
>>
> 
> I do agree it's easier, but why do we need this to be easy? This is
> really my question.

To excerpt from
http://www1.american.edu/cas/econ/faculty/isaac/choose_python.pdf
<quote>
Choose the simple over the complex, and the complex over the complicated.
</quote>


> Also, since it is easier, why not drop the harder one, setattr()?

Because setattr and friends are needed when the variable names are 
constructed dynamically.

~Ethan~