[Python-Dev] bug or a feature? (original) (raw)

Guido van Rossum guido at python.org
Fri Jun 13 00:05:27 CEST 2008

On Thu, Jun 12, 2008 at 1:01 PM, Willem Broekema <metawilm at gmail.com> wrote:

On Thu, Jun 12, 2008 at 9:46 PM, Guido van Rossum <guido at python.org> wrote:

The intention was for these dicts to be used as namespaces. I think of it as follows:

(a) Using non-string keys is a no-no, but the implementation isn't required to go out of its way to forbid it. That will allow easier and more efficient implementation, good! (b) Using non-empty string keys that aren't well-formed identifiers should be allowed. ok. Is it allowed to "normalize" subclasses of strings to regular string, e.g. after: class mystring(str): pass class C: pass x = C() setattr(x, mystring('foo'), 42) is it allowed that the dict of x contains a regular string 'foo' instead of the mystring instance?

I think yes, as this would allow for a more efficient implementation of the custom dict class.

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

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