[Python-Dev] Breaking undocumented API (original) (raw)

Glyph Lefkowitz glyph at twistedmatrix.com
Thu Nov 11 03:41:11 CET 2010

On Nov 10, 2010, at 2:21 PM, James Y Knight wrote:

On the other hand, if you make the primary mechanism to indicate privateness be a leading underscore, that's obvious to everyone.

+1.

One of the best features of Python is the ability to make a conscious decision to break the interface of a library and just get on with your work, even if your use-case is not really supported, because nothing can stop you calling its private functionality.

But, IMHO the worst problem with Python is the fact that you can do this without realizing it and pay a steep maintenance price later when an upgrade of something springs the trap that you had unwittingly set for yourself.

The leading-underscore convention is the only thing I've found that even mitigates this problem.

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