[email protected] (Dagfinn Ilmari Mannsåker) writes:
Michael G Schwern <[email protected]> writes:
[...]
$ python
Python 2.5.4 (r254:67916, Feb 11 2010, 00:50:55)
[GCC 4.2.1 (Apple Inc. build 5646)] on darwin
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
exit
Use exit() or Ctrl-D (i.e. EOF) to exit
[...]
This is because the python prompt is just a REPL and they are just
objects that stringify to the text and do their thing when called as a
function. The reason license needs to be called as a function is that
it's so long it needs a pager. Would you prefer objects that had magic
side effects on stringification, like this?
Yes. Not least because it does what is generally expected, and there is
significant virtue in that. The REPL does not need to be identical to the
language proper, because it is doing a different job.
Otherwise, consistency would at least be nice to see...
Daniel
--
X Windows is the Iran-Contra of graphical user interfaces: a tragedy of
political compromises, entangled alliances, marketing hype, and just plain
greed. X Windows is to memory as Ronald Reagan was to money.
-- The Unix Haters Handbook
