The example used for demonstrating name mangling could be better if two versions of code are shown - one with name mangling and one without.  I have modified the original example to incorporate this (see attached).

Adding the second code sample, since only one attachment allowed at one go.

Here is a link to the documentation section in question: https://docs.python.org/2/tutorial/classes.html#private-variables-and-class-local-references

Thanks for the report and proposed fix!  Could you upload a patch file that we could directly apply to the documentation instead of Python files?  More information about how to do that is found here: https://docs.python.org/devguide/#quick-start

If you need any kind of help, the devguide has the address of the core-mentorship mailing list where many friendly people can answer questions.  You can also ask in this issue page.

Uploading the patch for the improvement to the name mangling section of the Python tutorial.  Please note that the modification is much smaller than I proposed earlier.

I think the text is fine, but the example is not needed. I've updated Chandan's patch to remove the example and tweak the text a bit.

Chandan or Berker,

Any interest in making a Github pull request for this patch?

I don't think we should advertise how to manually mangle the names.  That isn't a best practice.  The feature is automatic for a reason.

What should we do with this issue?  Raymond, it sounds like you think the proposed PR should not be merged, is that right?  If so, should the issue and PR be closed?  Other opinions?  I would like to resolve this so we can either merge or close PR 5667.  Thanks!

Berker Peksag's change (PR 5667) is very simple and, I think, helpful.

New changeset 13ae4d44381a647aadd09b70b24833052659be41 by Victor Stinner (Berker Peksag) in branch 'master':
bpo-21196: Clarify name mangling rules in tutorial (GH-5667)
https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/13ae4d44381a647aadd09b70b24833052659be41

New changeset 3e5bcd12f661bdf363c025b52a3d515829e64ed2 by Miss Islington (bot) in branch '3.7':
bpo-21196: Clarify name mangling rules in tutorial (GH-5667)
https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/3e5bcd12f661bdf363c025b52a3d515829e64ed2

New changeset efc09a9701543f7180fc7ea0b6c45cf198c29cb8 by Miss Islington (bot) in branch '3.6':
bpo-21196: Clarify name mangling rules in tutorial (GH-5667)
https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/efc09a9701543f7180fc7ea0b6c45cf198c29cb8

New changeset b0f7fa1dda61ae7519deed816993ac5d55870958 by Miss Islington (bot) in branch '2.7':
bpo-21196: Clarify name mangling rules in tutorial (GH-5667)
https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/b0f7fa1dda61ae7519deed816993ac5d55870958

Thanks Chandan Kumar and Berker Peksag. The documentation has been clarified.