[Python-3000] Generic function PEP won't make it in time (original) (raw)

Guido van Rossum guido at python.org
Fri Apr 27 06:12:51 CEST 2007

On 4/26/07, Talin <talin at acm.org> wrote:

I kind of wish that it was called "incomplete" rather than abstract, for reasons that we've already discussed.

Can't remember the details though I vaguely recall some grumblings about that.

But why invent new terminology when we can leverage existing terminology, even if the semantics aren't quite the same? Python has a long history of doing that -- e.g. list, int, assignment, class, method, multiple inheritance, all come from other languages but Python gives them a new twist -- sometimes intentional (assignment, list, int), sometimes because the simplistic, dynamic implementation just can't provide what a typical compiler can do. I find that the current meanings of "abstract method" and "abstract class" are still close enough to C++ or Java that reusing the name is helpful rather than harmful.

-- --Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)

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