This issue tracker has been migrated to GitHub, and is currently read-only.
For more information, see the GitHub FAQs in the Python's Developer Guide.

Author rhettinger
Recipients BTaskaya, Pixmew, docs@python, rhettinger
Date 2020-11-13.19:44:21
SpamBayes Score -1.0
Marked as misclassified Yes
Message-id <1605296662.4.0.335082195079.issue42348@roundup.psfhosted.org>
In-reply-to
Content
I recommend leaving the text as is, and possibly creating a new FAQ entry discussing the relationship between immutability and hashability (something that I consider to be an intermediate or advanced topic).

Other thought:

* The set discussion should remain parallel that for mappings (a few paragraphs) after.  That text also discusses immutability

* We've never had a user incident regarding this text, so there is no actual evidence that this current wording is confusing anyone.

* It is common for users to equate hashability with immutability, so I think the current wording is reasonable.  My experience with users indicate that "hashable" is more cryptic than "immutable" because the former implies a knowledge of how hash tables work.

* It's easy for us thinking we're helping by making precise distinctions but have the actual effect of making the docs more opaque.  That is why first-aid books say "bruise" instead of "subdermal hematoma" :-)

* The word "immutable" is a reasonable first approximation that doesn't require knowledge of hash table mechanics.  For the most part, it is how everyday users think about dict keys and set elements. 

* That approximation is useful because a fuller discussion would say that if __hash__ is defined, it should do so on fields that don't mutate.
History
Date User Action Args
2020-11-13 19:44:22rhettingersetrecipients: + rhettinger, docs@python, BTaskaya, Pixmew
2020-11-13 19:44:22rhettingersetmessageid: <1605296662.4.0.335082195079.issue42348@roundup.psfhosted.org>
2020-11-13 19:44:22rhettingerlinkissue42348 messages
2020-11-13 19:44:21rhettingercreate