[Python-Dev] Namespaces

[Barry A. Warsaw]

>>>>> "JH" == Jeremy Hylton <jeremy@zope.com> writes:

    JH> I don't think that setting or getting an attribute is a name
    JH> binding operation.

I'm curious why setting an attribute isn't a name binding operation?
Are you binding the object to the attribute name in the object's
attribute namespace?  Since that maps to a setting in an __dict__
(usually), what /would/ you call it?

>>>>> "A" == Aahz  <aahz@pythoncraft.com> writes:

    A> Maybe yes and maybe no -- we'll argue about that later.  But do
    A> you agree that it's still a binding operation of some sort?

Certainly a setter is, although we could argue about the getter
(ignoring getters with side-effects).
    
    A> If so, what's the generic term for all possible things that can
    A> be bound *from*?  (They bind to objects, of course.)

I'm sure I don't follow. :)

I'd say that a binding operation is that which binds an object to a
name in a particular namespace.  But I'd want to prefix the term
"namespace" with an adjective to be precise.  An object's attribute
namespace, a module's namespace, etc.

-Barry