[Python-Dev] dir() in inspect.py ?

[Christian Tismer]

Hi,

by chance I looked into the impl of inspect.getmembers today and was
slightly shocked:

def getmembers(object, predicate=None):
     """Return all members of an object as (name, value) pairs sorted by 
name.
     Optionally, only return members that satisfy a given predicate."""
     results = []
     for key in dir(object):

According to

http://docs.python.org/library/functions.html

"""
Note Because dir() is supplied primarily as a convenience for use at an 
interactive prompt, it tries to supply an interesting set of names more 
than it tries to supply a rigorously or consistently defined set of 
names, and its detailed behavior may change across releases. For 
example, metaclass attributes are not in the result list when the 
argument is a class.
"""

This is a bit inconsistent, and I think the standard lib should be the
best example for clean code that is consistent with the docs.

Is the usage of dir() correct in this context or is the doc right?
It would be nice to add a sentence of clarification if the use of
dir() is in fact the correct way to implement inspect.

cheers - chris

-- 
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