[XML-SIG] Re: [DO-SIG] Python language bidning January 2000 Draft

[Martin v. Loewis]

> From what I read, they feel strongly that attribute access over an ORB
> is not a good idea, for reasons of exceptions and the like.  I don't
> remember seeing any complaints about attribute access of python objects.

=46rom the point of view of a Python Language Mapping user, there is no
difference between these two: You access a Python object, but it
really is a stub object only, so a call goes over the wire.

> I've never acutally tried (so I may be wrong) but I don't think you
> can call _get_foo accross an ORB for an attribute called foo.

Sure you can. In fact, _get_foo, in the IIOP protocol, is marshalled
as an operation invocation of "_get_foo". This gives the additional
advantage that ORBs can dispatch incoming operation invocations as-is
into method calls - no matter whether these are attribute accesses or
other operation invocations.

> In distributed world then thay are private.

See, this is a common misconception about OMG IDL attributes. They are
*not* private; instead, they are a short-hand for two public
operations, which are as good as any other operation.

Of course, it may be that the DOM designers had a different
understanding of attributes in mind.

Regards,
Martin