[Python-Dev] Deprecate __ private (was Re: PEP 8 updates/clarifications)

Sun Dec 11 23:57:58 CET 2005

Ian Bicking wrote:
> Jim Fulton wrote:
>...
>>> Also decide whether your attributes should be private or not.
>>> The difference between private and non-public is that the former
>>> will never be useful for a derived class, while the latter might
>>> be. Yes, you should design your classes with inheritence in
>>> mind!
>>>>>> Private attributes should have two leading underscores, no
>>> trailing underscores.
>>>>>> This conflicts with a previous suggestion "Generally, double leading 
>>> underscores should be used only to avoid name conflicts with 
>>> attributes in classes designed to be subclassed." Or perhaps 
>>> "private attributes" needs to be better explained.
>>>>>>>> While, on some level, private variables seem attractive, I think that
>> experience (for everyone I know) has shown them to be an attractive
>> nuisance. I recommend discouraging them.
>>> I really really hate double underscores, but I thought I'd let some 
> other people suggest stronger language first. I prefer explicit name 
> mangling for those cases where people justifiably use double underscores 
> now, e.g., self._MyPackage_variable instead of self.__variable, which I 
> think you also suggest below. Since it's all name mangling anyway, at 
> least explicit is better than implicit, especially when it's something 
> one could argue *should* look a little ugly. Perhaps all the 
> non-public/private language should be switched to just "private" (one 
> underscore) and "hidden from subclasses" (double underscore). I don't 
> like calling __ private at all, because it's not what people coming from 
> other languages think of as private.

Can we officially mark __private as a mistake. Perhaps:
- Strongly discourage it in the style guide
- Mark it in the language reference as a deprecated feature
- Generate deprecation warnings when it is used?
 (This might be too much.)
Jim
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