[Python-Dev] a quit that actually quits

Tue Dec 27 17:58:49 CET 2005

Ronald Oussoren wrote:
> I'd prefer 'def quit(): raise SystemExit', the class above just adds 
> a message for someone that accidently got stuck in a python shell. I 
> don't like the idea of making quit or exit special enough to cause 
> side effects without parentheses, no other function does that. Anyone 
> that knows how to program in Python should be able to guess that you 
> have to use 'quit()' instead of 'quit'.

The thing is there primarily for people who *don't* know how to
program in Python. If they knew, they knew how to get out of it;
they wouldn't type "quit()" but simply Ctrl-D.
So if they do
>>> quit
<function quit at 0xb7d96294>
they are just as confused as if they got a name error.
Regards,
Martin