On Dec 6, 1:38 pm, "Warren DeLano" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > There, I assert that 'object.as(class_reference)' is the simplest and > most elegant generalization of this widely-used convention. Indeed, it > is the only obvious concise answer, if you are limited to using methods > for casting.
I don't agree with your assertion. object.as_type(class_reference) object.cast(class_reference) These are both concise and obvious. > As someone somewhat knowledgable of how parsers work, I do not > understand why a method/attribute name "object_name.as(...)" must > necessarily conflict with a standalone keyword " as ". It seems to me > that it should be possible to unambiguously separate the two without > ambiguity or undue complication of the parser. It's possible, and they've been doing it for years, and they could have continued doing it if they wanted to. You'll notice that nowhere the Python grammar can two identifiers be separated by whitespace. So if you have two identifiers separated by whitespace, and the second one is "as", you know it has to be keyword "as". Well, they made it a keyword anyway. It was never a question of whether they could do it. > So, assuming I now wish to propose a corrective PEP to remedy this > situation for Python 3.1 and beyond, what is the best way to get started > on such a proposal? I think you'd be wasting your time, but the general procedure is outlined in PEP 1. Basically, you write a pre-PEP (aka PEP XXX) according to the guidelines in PEP 1, which you would post here and request comments on it. Then, if you can muster some support for it, you would send it to PEP maintainer (the email is listed somewhere on the PEPs page, dig for it), and get a number assigned, upon which time Guido van Rossum will read it and any comments in python-dev, and make a pronouncement of some sort. If you write a PEP, I advise you to try to sound less whiny and than you have in this thread. Saying "object.as(class_reference) is highly convenient because it mirrors textually the Java convention of object.asFloat" will go over a lot better than "object.as (class_reference) is the only obvious concise answer". Carl Banks -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
