[XML-SIG] 4DOM future

[Ken MacLeod]

uche.ogbuji@fourthought.com writes:

> Also, we are thinking of eliminating the getSpam() and setEggs()
> convention.  Right now, one uses
> 
> node.getParent()
> 
> to access the DOM attribute
> 
> node.parent
> 
> We are thinking of simply doing the same thing in Python.
> 
> The problem is that DOM adherence is still very important to us, and
> there are some things we'd have to do that require __getattr__ and
> __setattr__, and I know that these can slow things down quite a bit.
> 
> I'm assuming that's why PyDOM uses
> 
> node.get_parent()
> 
> Any comment about the "right" way, Python as well as DOM-wise?

My take on ``language bindings'' means to use conventions of the
target language in defining in the binding API[*].  In the case of
node.get_parent(), if that means using underscore instead of mixed
case, because it's more common in Python, I agree with that.

More specifically, in the case of node.parent, there's already
precedence for that in the DOM spec itself, the ECMA Script binding:

  <http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-DOM-Level-1/ecma-script-language-binding.html>


[* others disagree, preferring to use a strict transliteration of the
Java binding because it's there in the spec and widely implemented in
Java.]

-- 
  Ken MacLeod
  ken@bitsko.slc.ut.us