On Tue, Jun 28, 2011 at 8:46 AM, Michael Foord <fuzzy...@voidspace.org.uk> wrote: > So the Python 2.2 what's new talks about attributes and methods as different > things.... Of course the context makes it clear, but this mirrors how I use > the terms in discussion and how I see others generally using them. > > Great topic for bikeshedding. :-)
Yep, as David said, "attribute" is legitimately used to mean *both* "all attributes (i.e. both data attributes and methods)" and "data attributes (i.e. excluding methods)". In general, context makes it clear which meaning is intended, and when that isn't the case, more verbose phrasing such as that in the previous sentence can make it explicit. Rather than fighting that convention, we should probably just confront the ambiguity head on and update http://docs.python.org/dev/glossary.html#term-attribute to describe both uses of the term (and add a separate entry for "data attribute", with a definition which basically says "attributes which are not methods"). Cheers, Nick. -- Nick Coghlan | ncogh...@gmail.com | Brisbane, Australia _______________________________________________ Python-Dev mailing list Python-Dev@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-dev Unsubscribe: http://mail.python.org/mailman/options/python-dev/archive%40mail-archive.com
