[Doc-SIG] Finding cannonical names for objects

[Fred L. Drake, Jr.]

Edward D. Loper writes:
 > Ok.  I guess maybe my question should have been why the default global
 > (?) variable to access them is called "__builtins__" rather than
 > "__builtin__"::

  __builtins__ is an implementation detail, nothing more.  It is used
to obtain the built-in functions; for all namespaces other than
__main__, __builtins__ is a dictionary rather than a module.  The
identity of the __builtins__ dict is also used to determine if code is
running in restricted execution mode; if the name bound to
__builtins__ is not the __builtin__ module or the dictionary for that
module, the restricted execution rules are in place.  The name is
different so it doesn't clash, and allows a minor performance
improvement over using the __builtin__ module when accessing the
built-in namespace.


  -Fred

-- 
Fred L. Drake, Jr.  <fdrake at acm.org>
PythonLabs at Digital Creations