Fredrik Lundh wrote:
Steve Holden wrote:
Certainly makes writing 'print obj.spam, obj.spam, obj.eggs, obj.bacon, obj.sausages, "and", obj.spam' a lot easier ;-)
Of course this whole thing of substituting attribute access for dictionary keys only works as long as the keys are strings with the same syntax as Python identifiers, so one shouldn't go completely overboard.
unless you're willing to use getattr() for thos oddball cases, of course.
Of course.
>>> class Dummy: ... pass ... >>> x = Dummy() >>> setattr(x, "spam&egg", "hello") >>> getattr(x, "spam&egg") 'hello' >>> x.spam&egg Traceback (most recent call last): File "<stdin>", line 1, in ? AttributeError: Dummy instance has no attribute 'spam'
but seriously, turning container elements into attributes should only be done if it makes sense from a design perspective. (and vice versa; you shouldn't use a dictionary if an object would make more sense -- but attribute abuse is a lot more common)
Really we are talking about the outer limits here. Anyone preferring
setattr(x, "spam&egg", "hello")
to
x["spam&egg"] = "hello"
when it isn't necessary clearly doesn't share our two principal attributes: an elegant sense of design, fine knowledge of Python and an inherent modesty.
Sorry: out *three* principal attributes. Bugger, I'll come in again.
regards Steve -- Steve Holden http://www.holdenweb.com/ Python Web Programming http://pydish.holdenweb.com/ Holden Web LLC +1 703 861 4237 +1 800 494 3119 -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
