[Python-Dev] PEP: __source__ proposal

[Stelios Xanthakis]

On Fri, 3 Dec 2004, holger krekel wrote:

> ...
> there is another possibility for storing "source" or any other such meta 
> information with code/module objects: make __file__ and co_filename
> instances of a subclass of 'str' providing an extra attribute.
> For a simple example, they could have a 'source' attribute, which
> could be tried first by appropriate inspect functions and traceback
> related functionality.

Attaching such info on 'code objects' is indeed a more general
case. But, OTOH, AFAIK, a class is not a code object.  At least
by what I was able to figure out from python sources.

It seems reasonable to make 'source' a dynamic object
which will get its info from file/line if available.
Now the thing is that if we had __source__ from the start,
'inspect' would have been much different.  So the fact that
we have some functionality with inspect does not mean that
it's good enough. Probably inspect will be rewritten/improved
if __source__ is implemented.

> We are about to test out this approach with the py lib
> (http://codespeak.net/py) and want to have it work for
> for Python 2.2, 2.3. and 2.4.

Do you plan hacking python ?
It appears that tok_nextc() is the best place to
catch all the source passed to the interpreter.

A patch would be interesting.


Stelios