Hi Ethan, I'm not convinced that __all__ is responsible for codifying the api. The contents of __all__, does not stop anyone from importing anything in the module using `from foo import bar`. __all__ is specified in the tutorial as being included for the `from foo import *` case:
https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/modules.html And similar the first result for __all__ on google, is a stack overflow post stating that it is for from foo import *: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/44834/can-someone-explain-all-in-python Best, George On Wed, Mar 3, 2021 at 9:47 PM Ethan Furman <et...@stoneleaf.us> wrote: > On 3/3/21 12:55 PM, George Harding wrote: > > > Python has an __all__ variable that can be defined in a module to > restrict > > which members of the module should be included in a call `from foo > import *`. > > The primary purpose these days for `__all__` is to codify a module's API. > The *-import is just a happy accident. > > > However specifying which members of the module should be excluded is more > > difficult. > > And unnecessary -- specify `__all__` so your users know which classes, > functions, variables, etc., can be safely used. If it should be excluded, > don't put it in `__all__`. > > -- > ~Ethan~ > _______________________________________________ > Python-ideas mailing list -- python-ideas@python.org > To unsubscribe send an email to python-ideas-le...@python.org > https://mail.python.org/mailman3/lists/python-ideas.python.org/ > Message archived at > https://mail.python.org/archives/list/python-ideas@python.org/message/EPNXFKCBYTCQVEWLZZGLR2XUKXXVJEQC/ > Code of Conduct: http://python.org/psf/codeofconduct/ >
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