[Python-Dev] python-dev Summary for 2003-03-01 through 2003-03-15 (original) (raw)

Ben Laurie ben@algroup.co.uk
Tue, 18 Mar 2003 12:11:09 +0000

Zooko wrote:

Capabilities can loosely be thought of like bound methods. Security with capabilities is done based on possession; if you hold a reference to an object you can use that object.

No -- capabilities (as envisioned for Python) are references. Whether a reference to an object, to a bound method, or to a function doesn't matter. Note that it isn't that capabilities are "like" references, it is that capabilities are references. Every reference is a capability. Every capability is a reference.

I should note that this is a new (and good) idea, not one that we've previously expressed. And, of course, they are references with restrictions, which will be spelt out in the PEP.

Cheers,

Ben.

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