The ‘if __name__…’ idiom makes one function special. Hm... So if the module
has that, will that main() still be called with your proposal? I.e., is
__name__ still ‘__main__’?
On Tue, Oct 20, 2020 at 20:32 Michael Smith <mich...@smith-li.com> wrote:
>
>
> On Tue, Oct 20, 2020 at 23:12 Guido van Rossum <gu...@python.org> wrote:
>
>> On Tue, Oct 20, 2020 at 8:06 PM Michael Smith <mich...@smith-li.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> On Tue, Oct 20, 2020 at 10:19 PM Guido van Rossum <gu...@python.org>
>>> wrote:
>>> >
>>> > I think it would be a tad more convincing if there was a way to pass
>>> arguments too (even if just a list of strings). At the very least extra
>>> arguments should end up in sys.argv[1:].
>>>
>>> Could python -m 'module:thunk' have exactly the same behavior with
>>> respect to arguments as `python3.8 -m module` does today?
>>>
>>> ```
>>> $ cat bar.py
>>> import pprint, sys
>>>
>>> def thunk():
>>> pprint.pprint(sys.argv)
>>>
>>> if __name__ == "__main__":
>>> thunk()
>>>
>>> $ python3.8 -m bar -- -1 --two --three=3
>>> ['/Users/michael/bar.py', '--', '-1', '--two', '--three=3']
>>> ```
>>>
>>> So then with the same bar.py, `python -m bar:thunk -- -2 --three
>>> --four=4` would print `['/Users/michael/bar.py', '--', '-1', '--two',
>>> '--three=3']`. I like this better than my previous suggestion to
>>> shorthand python -c.
>>>
>>
>> Actually it should print the same except for sys.argv[0]. (We could argue
>> about what sys.argv[0] should be.)
>>
>>
>>> > Then again, presumably the function must be specially crafted for this
>>> usage. Why can't you just specially craft a module's main()?
>>>
>>> I'm not sure I know what you mean by "specially crafted", other than
>>> the function only needs not require any formal parameters. It doesn't
>>> need to be special-er than that. It can handle args via sys.argv, as
>>> you suggested. Most of the `main` functions I write today are just
>>> like that.
>>>
>>
>> Okay, so this is just a way to choose an alternative main() function.
>>
>
> Am I missing something important here? What's special about naming a
> function "main"? Don't you still have to do something else to invoke it
> from the cli, such as calling it expressly in the module or pointing
> console entry points to it?
>
> ```
> $ echo 'def main(): print("hi")' > xyz.py
> $ python -m xyz
> <no output>
> $
> ```
>
> I'm kind of meh at this point, I'll leave it to the usual crowd. :-)
>>
>
> I appreciate the engagement you've given this already. :)
>
> --
>> --Guido van Rossum (python.org/~guido)
>> *Pronouns: he/him **(why is my pronoun here?)*
>> <http://feministing.com/2015/02/03/how-using-they-as-a-singular-pronoun-can-change-the-world/>
>>
> --
--Guido (mobile)
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