You do *NOT* want to put double-underscores before and after a method name. That does not indicate a private method, it indicates a "magic method" -- something that has special meaning to Python. Thus, you have special methods like __init__(), __len__(), __getattr__(), __setattr__(), etc; all of these methods may be called *by Python* in certain specific circumstances, and allow you to customize how your objects respond to those circumstances.
Naming methods that are *not* special "magic methods" using this naming convention is a very bad idea. On the other hand, methods with only a single or double *leading* underscore, and no trailing underscore(s), can be considered to express some degree of privacy. A single underscore, by convention, indicates an internal method or attribute, and that name will typically not be exported. A double underscore will trigger minimal name mangling; not only will the name not be exported, but it will be converted to _<classname>__<name>, making it a bit more difficult to access from outside the class. (Access inside the class is via the unmangled name.) In this circumstance, I'd probably have methods _generate_head(self) and _generate_body(self). Don't mess with making them class/static methods unless it's important to be able to access them when you don't have any instance of the class available (and if you're calling them from inside a regular method, then you *do* have an instance available). Even if you don't end up referring to self or any instance attributes within the method, it's simpler to keep it as a normal method. --Jeff Shannon -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
