[docs] [issue24161] PyIter_Check returns false positive for objects of type instance

[Raymond Hettinger]

Raymond Hettinger added the comment:

> but then, what would be the use case of PyIter_Check
> outside of python core?

You could still use it anywhere.  It will give a correct result in the cases of extension modules, builtin types, and new-style classes.  It will give a false positive in the case of old-style classes.  The latter case doesn't seem to be of much consequence (there is a still a TypeError raised when next() is called), so you just find out a bit later than you otherwise would (I believe that is why this is why we haven't gotten a bug report in the 13+ years this code has existed).

The feature is imperfect, incomplete and not as useful as it could be.
But this ship sailed a long time ago.  It is far too late for redesign (and risking unintended breakage).

FWIW, PyIter_Check() is used several times in the Python core: sqlite, cPickle, and iter().  In those examples, there seem to be no adverse consequences for the false positive because we still get a TypeError downstream when the actual call is made to next().

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assignee:  -> docs at python
components: +Documentation -Interpreter Core
nosy: +docs at python
priority: normal -> low
stage:  -> needs patch

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Python tracker <report at bugs.python.org>
<http://bugs.python.org/issue24161>
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