On Fri, Jul 1, 2011 at 10:17 AM, Ben Finney <ben+python@benfinney.id.au> wrote:
Steven D'Aprano <steve@pearwood.info> writes:
Nick Coghlan wrote:
On Thu, Jun 30, 2011 at 11:27 PM, Sturla Molden <sturla@molden.no> wrote:
What I am asking is if the need to filter the output from dir is so common that it could warrant a change to Python?
No, if an object is complicated enough that pprint(dir(obj)) and help(obj) aren't adequate to explore it, then it is time to go read the documentation (or the source, if the documentation is lacking).
Do you think that *reading the source* is to be preferred over a simple tool like running a filter over the output of dir()? I'm not exactly sure what point you're trying to make, but I don't think it's a good one.
I understood Nick's meaning to entail that in such a circumstance where usage for a complex object is difficult to discover, the solution isn't to alter Python but to address the poor documentation and/or poor design of those complex objects.
Yeah, that's about it - dir-based exploration hits a point of diminishing returns where it becomes better to go find a source of information that doesn't require you to explicitly request each piece of additional data. However, I found Steven and Georg's point about "how do I spell that again?" for objects with a broad API much more compelling, since I *have* been in that situation many, many times. It's not exploration in that case, it's a dir-based equivalent of code completion support. Cheers, Nick. -- Nick Coghlan | ncoghlan@gmail.com | Brisbane, Australia