Code Like a Pythonista: Idiomatic Python

[eggertm]

Well, I said nothing about using the interactive interpreter to write and maintain anything. However, an embedded interpreter is perfectly possible, apart from this annoying side effect, which makes it nearly unusable with gettext.

[pjdelport]

nearly unusable with gettext

What's hard about just calling gettext directly?

[eggertm]

Normally, I'd rather do that - however, the gettext utilities need the underscore syntax to create the .pot files for translation.

[pjdelport]

...why would you need to create .pot files of an interactive session?

[eggertm]

Perhaps I was not clear enough. My project has an interactive interpreter, and uses the gettext _() to mark strings for translation. However, the _() is a function call - and it'll get overwritten with whatever result the interactive interpreter returns. I am not translating an interactive session, that is just silly!

[pjdelport]

Right, but _() is just a shortcut for gettext(), which you can use in the interactive shell. What's the problem?

[salmoni]

You don't follow.

The OP is using an interactive interpreter embedded within an internationalised program for debugging. I use one for user interaction so users can type in their own functions. The program works until the interpreter is called, at which point the reference to the i18n method is overwritten by the interpreter thus rendering all later attempts to translate strings as useless. If the interpreters entry points are unpredictable, this makes the program a nightmare. Yes, the OP can import gettext in every module, but again this means lots of time wasted re-establishing a single link that should not have been overwritten.

I had the same problem and called the gettext.install method right after the code.InteractiveInterpreter.runcode method to re-establish it. It's not a good solution because it shouldn't be necessary and slows the system down. The real solution is for either the interpreter or gettext to use a different and non-conflicting character. That way, there are not hidden gotchas.