[Python-Dev] Dynamic module namspaces (original) (raw)

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Mon Jul 17 18:59:23 CEST 2006

On Mon, 17 Jul 2006 10:29:22 -0300, Johan Dahlin <jdahlin at async.com.br> wrote:

I consider getattribute a hack, being able to override dict is less hackish, IMHO.

Why do you feel one is more "hackish" than the other? In my experience the opposite is true: certain C APIs expect dict to be a "real" dictionary, and if you monkey with it they won't call the overridden functions you expect, whereas things accessing attributes will generally call through all the appropriate Python-level APIs.

This makes sense to me for efficiency reasons and for clarity as well; if you're trawling around in a module's dict then you'd better be ready for what you're going to get - especially if the module is actually a package. Even in "normal" python code, packages can have names which would be bound if they were imported, but aren't yet.

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