[Python-Dev] Issue10403 - using 'attributes' instead of members in documentation

[Michael Foord]

On 27/06/2011 23:18, Terry Reedy wrote:
> On 6/27/2011 2:33 PM, Terry Reedy wrote:
>
>> Let me repeat that that is historically wrong for Python, and illustrate
>> why the term 'members' should not be used. From the 1.5 Language
>> Reference, 3.2 Standard type hierarchy: "There are also some 'generic'
>> special attributes, not listed with the individual objects: __methods__
>> is a list of the method names of a built-in object, if it has any;
>> __members__ is a list of the data attribute names of a built-in object,
>> if it has any."
>
> This sentence was left untouched until 2.2. What's new 2.2 has "In 
> previous versions of Python, there was no consistent way to discover 
> what attributes and methods were supported by an object. There were 
> some informal conventions, such as defining __members__ and 
> __methods__ attributes that were lists of names, but often the author 
> of an extension type or a class wouldn't bother to define them."
So the Python 2.2 what's new talks about attributes and methods as 
different things.... Of course the context makes it clear, but this 
mirrors how I use the terms in discussion and how I see others generally 
using them.

Great topic for bikeshedding. :-)

Michael

> This is a section on descriptors, but the real replacement is, I 
> believe, dir().
>


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