From: Dave Benjamin <dave@3dex.com>
Date: 2003-08-15T07:31:06+09:00
Subject: Re: Overloading ()

"Phil Tomson" <ptkwt@aracnet.com> wrote in message
news:bhgrv7013t@enews3.newsguy.com...
> I know you can overload () in C++, but can you overload () in Python?

Yes, it's quite simple, actually:

class CallableClass:
    def __call__(self):
        print 'Hey there!'

cc = CallableClass()
cc()

Output:
"Hey, there!"

> Seems like allowing overloading of () is a potential tarpit...  and there
> are potential parser issues as well, but I defer to matz to answer your
> question.

I won't comment on whether the ability to overload () is good or bad,
necessarily (although it would be nice if Ruby's lambdas had normal
functional semantics), but I would be very interested in understanding the
issue from a language design standpoint, if you'd be so kind, Matz.

Thanks!
Dave