[Python-Dev] re: PEP 279 revisited, formally (original) (raw)

Steve Holden sholden@holdenweb.com
Wed, 24 Apr 2002 13:56:28 -0400

David Ascher wrote:

I'll close with an anecdote which is even harder to apply to the case at hand. My mom recently got her first Windows PC after using macs for years. I'm talking to her on the phone: "How do I throw things off of my desktop?" "Just drag them to the trash can" "But there's no trash can ... . oh, there's a recycle bin -- but I do't want to recycle, I want to throw it away!" Given that Mac users eject removable media by dragging the media's icon onto the trashcan, presumably there is already some ambiguity in their minds about what the trashcan does.

An interesting conversation often results from asking Americans what the difference is between trash and garbage. Given that the answer is "garbage contains food waste", perhaps we should really trash-collect objects when their refcount becomes zero?

I now return you to this important semantic discussion <0.85 wink>.

unless-of-course-you-eat-objects-ly y'rs - steve

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