[Python-Dev] __dir__ and __all__

[Giovanni Bajo]

Hello,

I could not find a PEP for __dir__. I was thinking today that if __dir__ was 
added, I would find it useful if modules implemented it by returning __all__ 
(when __all__ is defined). Or even better, to return the same names that would 
be imported by a star-import (so, if __all__ is not defined, all names which 
do not start with '_').

This wouldn't prevent introspection tools to use mod.__dict__ to still access 
the module's global dictionary, of course. But it would allow module's authors 
to more clearly document the module's public API.
-- 
Giovanni Bajo