code blocks

[zipher]

 > I'm thinking how interesting it would be to add code blocks to Python, so that arbitrary strings of code can be passed around.   It would open up some interesting possibilities for self-modifying code and generic programming.
>
> My suggestion would be to use triple double-quoted strings.  

Hmmm.  Would be interesting to do this:

>>> codestr = decode(SomeClass)

...and have it return a triple-quoted string of the perhaps-reduced source for the class.  It's like serialization of code objects, but the serialization is just the source string w/LFs that would re-make the object.

Similarly, you'd want:

>>> encode(codestr)

to instantiate all objects in the codestr.  You can't do this with eval, because it doesn't allow assignment (eval(n=2) returns "InvalidSyntax").

mark