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

[Michael Foord]

On 28/06/2011 12:51, R. David Murray wrote:
> On Tue, 28 Jun 2011 11:54:39 +0100, Michael Foord<fuzzyman at voidspace.org.uk>  wrote:
>> On 28/06/2011 11:44, Fred Drake wrote:
>>> But "callable attributes" aren't the same thing as methods; most are methods,
>>> but not all.  Sometimes, they're data used by the object.  The fact that
>>> data attributes can be callable is irrelevant.
>> Added to which there are other descriptors, notably property, that are
>> not directly callable but are not provided as normal "data attributes"
>> (although the access syntax is the same). Properties are much closer to
>> methods as they are implemented on the class and fetched via the
>> descriptor protocol. Instead of "data attributes" I prefer the term
>> "instance attributes" although that doesn't include "class attributes"
>> (or more precisely it doesn't cover "class attributes that aren't
>> descriptors").
> Also, instances can have methods as instance attributes.
>
> Trying to use 'instance attributes' for non-method attributes is a bad
> idea, I think.

I would use instance attributes for members that are held in the 
instance dict (or have specific slots). As this can't be a normal 
"method" (it could be any object including a callable one - but won't be 
a standard method descriptor) it seems uncontroversial. (Or more to the 
point it seems to be *precise* in its meaning in the context of the 
Python data model.)

What do you mean by "instances can have methods as instance attributes"? 
Once you attach a bound method directly to an instance it becomes a 
slightly different beast I think. (On top of which that is pretty rare 
behaviour.)

> Given that there is no one thing that covers all non-method
> attributes, I suspect 'non-method attributes' is as good as
> we're going to manage.

Hehe, yeah - that's not bad... It's hard to see how it could be 
misunderstood too.

Michael

> --
> R. David Murray           http://www.bitdance.com


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