[Python-Dev] Proposing "Argument Clinic", a new way of specifying arguments to builtins for CPython

[Guido van Rossum]

On Tue, Dec 4, 2012 at 11:35 AM, Antoine Pitrou <solipsis at pitrou.net> wrote:
> On Tue, 04 Dec 2012 11:04:09 -0800
> Larry Hastings <larry at hastings.org> wrote:
>>
>> Along these lines, I've been contemplating proposing that Clinic
>> specifically understand "path" arguments, distinctly from other string
>> arguments, as they are both common and rarely handled correctly.  My
>> main fear is that I probably don't understand all their complexities
>> either ;-)
>>
>> Anyway, this is certainly something we can consider *improving* for
>> Python 3.4.  But for now I'm trying to make Clinic an indistinguishable
>> drop-in replacement.
>>
> [...]
>>
>> Naturally I agree Clinic needs more polishing.  But the problem you fear
>> is already solved.  Clinic allows precisely expressing any existing
>> PyArg_ "format unit"** through a combination of the type of the
>> parameter and its "flags".
>
> Very nice then! Your work is promising, and I hope we'll see a version
> of it some day in Python 3.4 (or 3.4+k).

+1 for getting this into 3.4. Does it need a PEP, or just a bug
tracker item + code review? I think the latter is fine -- it's
probably better not to do too much bikeshedding but just to let Larry
propose a patch, have it reviewed and submitted, and then iterate.
It's also okay if it is initially used for only a subset of extension
modules (and even if some functions/methods can't be expressed using
it yet).

-- 
--Guido van Rossum (python.org/~guido)