[Python-3000] Implementations: A syntax for extending method dispatching beyond type/class inheritance (original) (raw)

Bill Janssen janssen at parc.com
Thu Dec 7 18:22:52 CET 2006

But, looking at the ABC page right now, to implement Dict, I'll need to inherit Mapping and MutableContainer.

Dave, I completely feel your pain. I think dict is overly complex (and Mapping). Almost nobody needs a whole "dict" -- it's become a grab bag for handy tricks to perform with mapped sets. After all, even Container implements a "mapping", via the "get" method. I think we need simpler builds on Container that are what people use (without going down Java's "twisty little maze of twisty little mazes" class library path).

I also think that the interface to Sequence could be made considerably simpler by making the Slice object more explicit. Right now, there's a lot of syntactic sugar on the interfaces to "dict" and "list", and that sugar, while useful, is also confusing.

Bill

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