Why less emphasis on private data?

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    time> Coming from a C++ / C# background, the lack of emphasis on private
    time> data seems weird to me.

Python doesn't try to protect you from the authors of the code you use.  You
should be intelligent enough to use it wisely.  On the flip side, the lack
of truly private data and methods means the original author of a piece of
code doesn't need to anticipate all future uses to which the code will be
put.  Here are a couple items along the lines of "we're all adults here".

    http://spyced.blogspot.com/2005/06/anders-heljsberg-doesnt-grok-python.html
    http://www.mail-archive.com/tutor@python.org/msg17806.html

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