[Python-Dev] CALL_ATTR patch

[M.-A. Lemburg]

Guido van Rossum wrote:
> Yes, please.  Here's a quick explanation of descriptors:
> 
> A descriptor is something that lives in a class' __dict__, and
> primarily affects instance attribute lookup.  A descriptor has a
> __get__ method (in C this is the tp_descrget function in its type
> object) and the instance attribute lookup calls this to "bind" the
> descriptor to a specific instance.  This is what turns a function into
> a bound method object in Python 2.2.  In earlier versions, functions
> were special-cased by the instance getattr code; the special case has
> been subsumed by looking for a __get__ method.  Yes, this means that a
> plain Python function object is a descriptor!  Because the instance
> getattr code returns whatever __get__ returns as the result of the
> attribute lookup, this is also how properties work: they have a
> __get__ method that calls the property-get" function.
> 
> A descriptor's __get__ method is also called for class attribute
> lookup (with the instance argument set to NULL or None).  And a
> descsriptor's __set__ method is called for instance attribute
> assignment; but not for class attribute assignment.
> 
> Hope this helps!

Could you put such short overviews somewhere on the Python Wiki ?

They sure help in understanding what is going on behind the
scenes without having to grep through tons of source code :-)

Thanks,
-- 
Marc-Andre Lemburg
eGenix.com

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