newb question about @property

Rhodri James rhodri at kynesim.co.uk
Wed Oct 4 08:46:53 EDT 2017


On 04/10/17 12:07, bartc wrote:
> I've seen that example brought up before. It still doesn't cut any ice.
> 
> You might as well be condescending of someone who finds Joyce or Proust 
> unreadable, and prefers McBain, Simenon or Chandler. (Sorry, can't think 
> of any modern pulp novelists).

I don't think your comparison is appropriate.  Joyce and Proust strike 
me as the literary equivalent of Perl or APL; very clever but nearly 
unreadable even for experts.  No, think rather of Terry Pratchett.

(Almost) anyone can read a Pratchett novel and enjoy it.  Most people 
will not even notice maybe half the jokes.  This is most obvious with 
The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic, where long-time Fantasy 
readers will spot Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, recognise the tropes that 
are cheerfully being exploded, and so on.

You can write decent Python without using decorators, properties, 
metaclasses or comprehensions in much the same way that you can enjoy 
Pratchett without ever having heard of Fritz Lieber.  For a 
straightforward enough problem, writing your Python as if it was C won't 
even cause you any trouble.  But if you think using these extra tools 
isn't programming, you are as flat out wrong as if you think Small Gods 
is just about a deity having to work on being believed in.

-- 
Rhodri James *-* Kynesim Ltd



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