To make a method or attribute private (inaccessible from the outside), simply start its name with two underscores
----《Beginning Python From Novice to Professional》 but there is another saying goes: Beginning a variable name with a single underscore indicates that the variable should be treated as ‘private’. I test both these 2 rules ,it seems only names that start with two underscores are REAL private methods or attributes . >>> class A: ... def __init__(self): ... self.a = 'a' ... self._a = '_a' ... self.__a = '__a' ... >>> ap = A() >>> ap.a 'a' >>> ap._a '_a' >>> ap.__a Traceback (most recent call last): File "<stdin>", line 1, in ? AttributeError: A instance has no attribute '__a' so what is your opinion about single leading underscore and private methods or attributes？ -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
