If all methods are public unless they are explicitly defined as something else, is it ever necessary to define a method as public?
views:
93answers:
3
+10
A:
Well, you answered the question already by naming the default: no, it is not necessary.
Class methods may be defined as public, private, or protected. Methods declared without any explicit visibility keyword are defined as public.
However, I consider it good practise to always do so.
Gordon
2010-09-16 08:34:35
+1
A:
There are two style tendencies in php - the "javaesque" majority considers visibility modifiers very important and uses them actively, in the pythonesque minority (i personally belong to) we think that all that public-private-interface-abstract stuff is nothing more but a waste of RAM.
stereofrog
2010-09-16 08:44:36
I'd be interested to hear why!
sunwukung
2010-09-16 09:05:53
@sunwukung: if "public" is so good, why doesn't python use it?
stereofrog
2010-09-16 09:21:51
@sunwukung: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3725539/reasons-to-avoid-access-modifiers-in-php
stereofrog
2010-09-16 10:04:11
@stereofrog: Neither of your responses answer sunwukung's question; they're actually rather cargo cult in nature. "If python doesn't use it, it must not be worthwhile" isn't an answer.
EricBoersma
2010-09-16 14:17:44
@EricBoersma, read the link i posted, especially @mario and @troelskn comments.
stereofrog
2010-09-16 14:52:15
@stereofrog: Neither of those come close to answering sunwukung's question. Asking a question with a desired answer, and deliberately stating that you're going to ignore people who disagree with you isn't valuable at all. Like sunwukung, I would be fascinated to read about why the python community considers access modifiers unnecessary, but neither of your answers have come close to providing that information.
EricBoersma
2010-09-16 15:16:56
@EricBoersma, that's simple. http://xkcd.com/353/
stereofrog
2010-09-16 15:43:35