On Wednesday, 10 October 2012 18:38:04 UTC+5:30, Roy Smith wrote: > In article > > <1krpdak.u0qy9e1a4knspn%real-not-anti-spam-addr...@apple-juice.co.uk>, > > real-not-anti-spam-addr...@apple-juice.co.uk (D.M. Procida) wrote: > > > > > Mark Lawrence <breamore...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote: > > > > > > > On 09/10/2012 14:24, D.M. Procida wrote: > > > > > What exactly is the point of a private method? Why or when would I want > > > > > to use one? > > > > > > > > > > Daniele > > > > > > > > > > > > > Hardly a Python question but using a search engine could have got you > > > > here, and rather faster :) > > > > > > > http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2620699/why-private-methods-in-the-ob > > > ject-oriented > > > > > > Thanks. Sometimes I prefer to talk to real people on Usenet than do web > > > searches. Just my preference. > > > > > > Anyway, one of the answers on that page explains that public methods are > > > interfaces to a class, that other things might rely on, and private ones > > > are for its own internal logic, that other things don't need to care > > > about. > > > > > > In Python, using an underscore is simply a convention to note that a > > > method is private - it doesn't actually hide it from other things - > > > correct? > > > > Yes (modulo some details of how import works that I've never fully > > figured out and which lack of knowledge hasn't seemed to have hurt me > > any). > > > > I view public and private in Python this way: > > > > Public: I hereby declare that this method or attribute is part of the > > promised never to change interface of this class. I might possibly > > break that promise at some point in the future, but if I do, you have > > the right to bitch and whine about it, and I'm morally obligated to at > > least pretend I care. > > > > Private: I hereby declare that this method or attribute is something I > > needed to have for my own purposes, and is officially hidden inside my > > kimono. Like all things inside my kimono, you may speculate about their > > existence all you want, but you touch them at your own peril. I may > > change them at some point in the future, and while you can bitch and > > whine about it all you want, I'm not listening.
Uhum. Language please. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list